No positive COVID-19 cases, deaths among persons fully vaccinated

Minister of Health, Hon Dr. Frank Anthony says to date none of the persons who have been fully vaccinated has tested positive for COVID-19, or has died from complications related to the disease.

During Friday’s COVID-19 update, the Minister said this is another reason why persons 18 years and older should get immunised.

“We haven’t seen any of those persons reporting infection or being confirmed with a COVID-19 infection.

We haven’t seen any fully immunised persons coming into any one of our hospitals…nor have we had any COVID-19 related deaths with people fully vaccinated.”

Dr. Anthony also said there have been no reports of persons experiencing adverse effects of the vaccine.

“I want to distinguish adverse effects from side effects. Adverse effect is something that is really unexpected and that’s why when people receive their vaccines, we keep them back for about 15 minutes to observe them.

One of the adverse effects that we normally look for is anaphylactic shock, and so far, we haven’t observed anybody getting any of those things,” he explained.

A study on the side effects experienced was conducted with 5000 persons in Regions Four, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten. The study found that 44.4 per cent of the persons experienced side effects and 55.6 per cent did not.

Samples were taken from different age groups. In the 18 to 29 age group 17.9 per cent reported some form of side effects. For the 30 to 39 age group, 18.7 per cent reported side effects. For ages 40 to 49, 11.7 per cent reported side effects and between the 50 to 59 age group, about 15 per cent reported side effects. In the 60 years and over category 36.7 per cent of those persons reported a side effect.

Minister Anthony said the most commonly reported side effect was fever. Other side effects included soreness at the injection site, fatigue, chills and nausea. These, he said, were resolved within a 24-hour period.

To date, 207,889 persons or approximately 42.7 per cent of the adult population has received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccine. Some 73,471 persons, or 15 per cent of the adult population is fully immunised.