‘Health worker died of COVID-19, not from Sinovac jab’

by Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star), 19 Mar 2021

MANILA, Philippines — The health worker who died days after getting vaccinated might have already been infected with COVID-19 at the time he got the vaccine from Sinovac, a medical expert said yesterday.

Dr. Rommel Lobo of the National Adverse Effects Following Immunization Committee said the patient might have been positive for COVID but was unaware of it and had no symptoms when she received the vaccine on March 5.

This bolstered the Department of Health (DOH)’s assertion that the virus, and not the vaccine, caused her death.

“The vaccine cannot cause an infection; that’s definite. So, it could not have contributed to the person’s death,” Lobo said at a press briefing led by presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr.

“Remember that the vaccine we’re giving is safe and it’s inactivated. It also has no chance of multiplying because the microbe present is already dead,” he explained.

An allergist and clinical immunologist, Lobo ruled out the possibility that the health worker died last March 13 due to adverse effects from the China-developed vaccine.

He said the vaccine merely “stimulates our immune system to produce an anti-body and at the same time, memory cells so that second exposure will have an adequate immune or re-boost immune response.”

“She died due to a full-blown infection caused by COVID-19, which is why thecondition worsened and deteriorated,” he said.

The healthcare worker had reported comorbidities such as bronchial asthma, diabetis and hypertension when asked prior to the vaccination.

“(The patient) was treated accordingly but the situation had worsened. (The patient got) vaccinated but it did not have anything to do with the condition,” Lobo said.

As this developed, Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana underscored the need for the healthcare sector to get protection through inoculation.

“Doctors and healthcare workers are really in clear and present danger while we are facing COVID-19,” he said.

Salvana joined Lobo in saying that the vaccines could prevent serious implication of the virus or prevents death; but inoculation will not totally prevent one from getting infected.