A 72-year-old Filipino woman from Caloocan City shared her experience after receiving her first dose of the COVID vaccine which caused her to develop a rare blood disorder called thrombocytopenia.
Luz Legaspi has been staying in New York for seven years with her daughter and grandson. She worked with the Environmental Sanitation Services in Caloocan prior to her retirement.
On January 19, Legaspi was hospitalized in New York City after waking up with bruises on her arms and legs and blisters that bled inside her mouth just one day after receiving her first dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.
"Good overall, pero madali na hingalin," she said when asked how she was feeling.
Legaspi's platelet count was zero and doctors ordered her to not leave her bed for over a week, for fear that a bump, bruise, fall, or other minor injury could lead to a similar hemorrhage that could be fatal for her.
She also reportedly received the platelet treatments but was not showing signs of improvement after 10 days in the hospital.
Among the symptoms she experienced after taking the vaccine included unexplained bruises around her arms and legs, red spots around her body called petechia, she added.
"Looks like measles rashes, but not itchy. And blood blisters around my mouth and tongue," Legaspi said.
The only discomfort that Legaspi is experiencing is the "pain in her right foot that radiates in her legs."
Legaspi also said that she does not have any predisposition but is pre-diabetic and taking maintenance medicines.
When asked if she's still planning to take the second dose after what happened, she said that doctors are not recommending it.
"The doctors are not recommending that I take the 2nd dose. They recommend that if I take vaccines, it is best to be non-mRNA type," Legaspi said.
Officials with the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that they were looking into the reports but added that rates of the condition in vaccinated people did not appear higher than the rates normally found in the US population, so the cases could also be coincidental, the report said. (With a report from The New York Times)
Read more: Filipina, 35 others develop rare blood disorder after getting COVID jab