There were few people --- who were able to complete their vaccine doses --- still got infected with the virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
FDA Director General Rolando Enrique Domingo said that a total of 3,732,850 people have received "at least one dose" of Sinovac vaccine nationwide as of June 20. Of the total, 173 people contracted COVID-19 before getting their second dose. Domingo noted that 11 of them died after experiencing severe symptoms of the viral illness.
Meanwhile, among the 1,628,390 people who completed their two doses of Sinovac vaccine, 27 of them contracted COVID-19 "within 14 days after their second dose," said Domingo.
A total of 2,137,328 individuals already got their first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine. Of which, 188 people still contracted COVID-19 while 11 of them also died. There were 427,926 individuals who completed two doses. Five of them, however, still contracted COVID-19, said Domingo.
Those who completed the second dose of Sinovac and AstraZeneca, but still got infected with COVID-19, are mild cases only, noted Domingo.
Meanwhile, there were 321,362 people who received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Five of them contracted COVID-19. Meanwhile, out of the 82,870 people who completed two doses, only one got COVID-19.
"Nakikita natin na mayroon pa na nagkakaroon ng COVID pero kakaunting-kaunti na lamang even after the first dose pero drastically goes down after the second dose (We see that there are still people who get COVID but these are just a few instances. But it drastically goes down after the second dose)," said the FDA chief.
"Definitely after the second dose, lumiliit po iyong chance ng severe COVID at saka iyong pagkamatay (Definitely after the second dose, the chance of getting severe COVID and death decreases)," he added.
Meanwhile, Domingo cautioned the public in comparing these data since the brands' interval between their two doses are different. He noted that the interval for Sinovac is at four weeks, while for AstraZeneca is eight to 12 weeks. For Pfizer-BioNTech, the interval is at least three weeks.
With this data, it only shows that vaccines are effective against COVID-19, said Domingo.
"Kung tatanungin ako eh nagpi-prevent po ba ng COVID-19 infection ang mga bakuna – ang tingin ko po talaga ay nagpi-prevent (If I'm asked, do vaccines prevent COVID-19 infection-I really think they do)," he said.
"From our observations, we seem to be preventing a lot of infection among vaccinated people," he added.
Domingo also emphasized the importance of completing the two-dose regimen and still continue to practice the minimum public health standards.
"Importante talaga na ma-complete iyong dalawang dose kasi talagang between the first dose and the second dose, talaga pong nakita natin nag-i-improve ano ang protection (It's really important to complete the two doses because between the first dose and the second dose, we've really seen that the protection improves)," he said.
“Kailangan pa rin kahit na mabakunahan na tayo ng first dose, observe health protocols pa rin kasi maaari pa po talaga tayong mahawa, maaari pa tayong magkasakit (Even if we are vaccinated with the first dose, we still need to observe health protocols because we can still get sick)," he added.
"Wala po talagang 100 percent na efficacy ng vaccine but you really just have to be careful kahit after the vaccination (There is really no 100 percent efficacy of the vaccine but you really just have to be careful even after the vaccination)," he furthered.