580 children experienced adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, mostly mild---FDA

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said nearly 600 children aged 12 to 17 experienced adverse reactions after they got inoculated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
A total of 580 adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) were reported among the adolescents that were vaccinated, the FDA said.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported that at least 800,000 adolescents in the country were vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Nov. 17.
"As of 14 November 2021, 580 reports were received," the FDA said in its report.
The FDA said that most of the AEFIs that were recorded were mild.
"Out of the 580 reports, 19 reports were tagged as serious while the rest are non-serious," it said.
"The most common reported reactions are vaccination/injection site pain, dizziness, headache, blood pressure increased, and tachycardia," it added.
The government started its COVID-19 pediatric vaccination last Oct. 15 among children with comorbidities aged 12 to 17. The program expanded last Nov. 3 to include all children aged 12 to 17.
Total AEFIs
The FDA said that about 75,000 people experienced adverse reactions after getting vaccinated. The figure already includes the 580 AEFIs reported among children.
"A total of 74,955 suspected adverse reaction reports were received, evaluated, and analyzed by the FDA," the report said.
The AEFIs reported was only 0.11 percent of the 69,713,994 doses administered as of Nov. 14, the agency said.
Of the total number of AEFIs reported, 3,741 were considered as "serious" while 71,214 were considered non-serious events.
To note, the Philippines started its COVID-19 vaccination program last March 1.