MANADOPOST.ID – Hundreds of people, including health workers in Indonesia, are still infected with Covid-19 even though they have been vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine. Conditions are different in the Philippines. There, very few people contracted Covid-19 after completing vaccination with Sinovac.
The Philippines’ drug regulator said Wednesday to allay concerns about whether the vaccine provides sufficient protection against the more contagious Delta variant.
Indonesia, which has reported record daily cases recently due to a surge in the Delta variant, saw hundreds of medical workers infected with Covid-19 despite being vaccinated with the Chinese-made Sinovac injection.
“In the Philippines, about 3.7 million people had received at least 1 dose of Sinovac vaccine as of June 20,” said the head of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration, Eric Domingo.
In the 4-week interval between the first and second Sinovac injections, 1,772 people were infected with Covid-19. There were 11 of them developed severe symptoms and died.
Domingo said among the 1.6 million people who received the second dose of Sinovac injection, only 27 became infected with Covid-19 within 14 days, while 33 contracted the pathogen 2 weeks from the vaccination received. None of them had severe symptoms.
“There are 33 out of 1.6 million which is a very low percentage,” said Domingo. “Even after the first dose, cases dropped dramatically after the second dose,” he added.
Meanwhile, about 2.1 million people have received at least one dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. And 188 of them contracted Covid-19 before their second dose. There were 11 deaths due to severe symptoms. After the second dose, only 6 developed Covid-19, but did not develop severe symptoms.
“One should not compare infection rates after injection of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines because the two vaccines have different interval periods for the first and second jab,” said Domingo.
The second dose of Sinovac is given 4 weeks after the first, while the second dose of AstraZeneca is received after 8 to 12 weeks. Domingo also noted that the Philippines started the launch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in April, when Corona virus infections peaked in the capital and surrounding areas.
He said at least 321,000 Filipinos had received the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech. Five of them developed respiratory illness between the first and second doses and none developed severe symptoms. After the second dose, only one was infected and showed only mild symptoms.
Domingo reminded the public that it was important to complete their vaccinations and follow health protocols afterward. “But actually we just have to be careful after vaccination,” he said.
At least 2.5 million Filipinos have received 2 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Philippines, which has the second highest tally of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia, is determined to vaccinate at least 58 million of its 110 million population.
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