COVID-19: 3.5 pct vaccine recipients experience mild to serious side effects

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said from those with side effects, 3,676 cases were detected by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and 22,094 cases were through MySejahtera.

He said about 99.5 per cent of the cases were mild while the remaining cases required treatment and observation by health specialists.

“Among the mild effects experienced by vaccine recipients were pain at the injection spot, fever, headache, vomiting, nausea and tingling in the body...while the more serious side effects were swelling in some parts of the body such as the face, shortness of breath and discomfort in the chest.

“Those who have serious side effects were warded for monitoring and had been discharged,” he told reporters after launching three books related to the COVID-19 pandemic at the Teaching Hospital of Universiti Putra Malaysia (HPUPM), here today.

Commenting further, Dr Adham said the percentage of those with side effects after receiving COVID-19 vaccine in the country is lower than the percentage in the third phase study on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In this regard, he said to date, there were no deaths reported due to the side effect of COVID-19 vaccine.

Asked on COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women, Dr Adham said based on clinical data of Pfizer-BioNTech, it is not a problem for pregnant women and nursing mothers to receive the vaccine.

He said the group has been urged to evaluate earlier with specialists at public health clinics or private hospitals.

“Data so far shows that pregnant women can be given the vaccine,” he said.

So far, pregnant women among frontliners have started receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.