DOH: Know your COVID-19 vaccines

 By Myra Cel L. Espinosa

 

The Department of Health (DOH) continuously emphasized that the most effective COVID-19 vaccines are the ones available.

 

Vaccines are not required and only voluntary. Individuals can also choose their preferred brand of vaccines as long as it is available in the vaccination site and they belong to the qualified priority groups.

 

Zamboanga City Planning and Development Coordinator conducted a public survey on COVID-19 vaccine perception, of 917 respondents, nearly half have signified their intention to get vaccinated. Of this, 26% are willing to get vaccinated with any vaccine brand, while 23% expressed willingness to get vaccinated but only for specific brands.

 

DOH 9 Medical Officer Dr. Cheryl Sarmiento said that the vaccines differs from their technology platform, age requirements, doses and frequency, efficacy rate, storage requirements and side effects. But aside from these factors, all vaccines are safe and can give high level of protection from serious illness and death from COVID-19 and other variants including Delta. 

 These are the following vaccines that have all passed through clinical trials and they are Philippine FDA approved. They are available in the country and already being distributed in Zamboanga Peninsula region. Get to know the details before getting vaccinated. 

 

Pfizer-BioNTech – 2 doses (21 days apart); 95% efficacy; Common Adverse effects: Short-term, mild-to-moderate pain at the injection site, fatigue and headache.

 

Oxford-Astrazeneca – 2 doses (4-12 weeks apart); 81.3% efficacy; Common Adverse effects: Injection site pain and tenderness, fatigue, headache, feverishness, myalgia or pain in one or more muscles.

 

CoronaVac (Sinovac) – 2 doses (28 days apart); 51% efficacy; Common Adverse effects: Local lymphadenopathy at the injection site, allergic reaction that may be caused by any component of the vaccine and convulsion.

 

Gamaleya Sputnik V – 2 doses (21-42 days apart); 91.6% efficacy; Common Adverse effects local: pain on injection site, hyperthermia, swelling.

 

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen – 1 dose; 66.9% efficacy; Common Adverse effects: pain, redness swelling, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea.

 

Moderna – 2 doses (28 days apart); 94.1% efficacy; Common Adverse effects: pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, chills, nausea/vomiting, axillary swelling/tenderness, fever, swelling at the injection site, and erythema at the injection site. 

 

According to DOH, these vaccines will take effect 2 to 4 weeks and you need to take all the recommended doses to get maximum level of protection. For individuals that will experience the adverse effects DOH advises to report your symptoms immediately in the nearest health center. 

 

“No vaccine protects you 100%,” said Dr. Sarmiento. However, getting ill after vaccination is still possible but rare and most likely to experience mild symptoms. Breakthrough cases usually happens before the body has the time to develop the maximum immunity. DOH report shows there are no related COVID-19 deaths for fully vaccinated patients. 

 

DOH continues to encourage people to get vaccinated if vaccines are already available for your priority group. 

 

“The more people get vaccinated the less opportunity for the virus to spread,” said Dr. Sarmiento. (RVC/EDT/MLE/PIA9-Zamboanga City)