Comparison of Adverse Reactions of Seven Types of COVID-19 Vaccines in the Philippines

This article responds to a query after I posted the article, Lot Numbers of Pfizer and Moderna mRNA Vaccines with the Highest Deaths. DT asked me if there are any data about the Sinovac vaccine. Sinovac is a Chinese company that makes the CoronaVac.

My search for adverse reactions to Sinovac turned into a comparison of seven vaccines. As it turned out, the Philippines has seven COVID-19 vaccines with emergency use authorization that are administered.

Each vaccine has a link that will bring you to a page with product information for the HealthCare Professionals and the Recipients.

The data in this article is from Reports of Suspected Adverse Reaction to COVID-19 Vaccines (01 March to 31 October 2021). It is published weekly by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration.

Distribution of adverse reactions for each vaccine

Below are cumulative reports from the start of the vaccination program on 01 March 2021 until 24 October 2021.

Looking at the table above, it seems like the Coronavac is worse among the vaccines in both non-serious and severe events. That is true in terms of the actual number, but that’s because it has the most doses given.

Note that the date when a vaccine was started is a factor in the number of adverse events. Sinopharm injections were just started in August.

Percentages tell a different story. I made a table with percent below. I used the total vaccine doses as the denominator since the report did not specify if the event occurred after the first or second doses.

The top two in each category are in red.

AstraZeneca has the most in the non-serious and severe events.

Adverse Reactions by Gender

More females are affected. The result could be due to the female gender being more prone to autoimmune reactions.

Adverse Events by Age

The report explained the younger ages being more affected because the healthcare workers were given priority in the early part of the vaccination. However, the data is in percentages. The explanation could be they have more access to reporting their adverse reactions.

Older people tend to stay at home unless they have a severe reaction.

HOSPITALIZATIONS AND DEATHS

Cases of Hospitalization – 3.30 per 100,000 doses administered.

Deaths – As of 31 October 2021, 1,333 fatal events were received. Reports of deadly events do not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the events.

The average age of the fatal cases after vaccination was 63.5 years.

Deaths after vaccination by age

67.97% (906) – 60 years and above
22.13% (295) – 40-59 years
8.63% (115) – 18-39 years
0.08% (1) – 12-17 years
1.20%(16) – not identified to what age group

Most of these events occurred in persons with multiple existing comorbidities. These include cardiovascular diseases, ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and infections, including pneumonia.

Adverse Reactions by Organ System and Type of Vaccine

I used the data from the number of suspected reactions per vaccine category to make the table below. Only the organ systems with the most number of symptoms are included.

The top three organ systems with the most adverse reactions are in red.

The most common complaint among all types of vaccines is related to the neurological system. Infections are a reflection of immune suppression post-vaccination.

The bar graph below is a representation of the table above.

Reports of Specific Conditions

The report put together all the vaccine reactions from the seven vaccines. I made the report brief.

You can know more about the condition by clicking its name.

Hypersensitivity including severe allergic reactions – 4.52 per million doses

Thrombosis-thrombocytopenia syndrome – seven cases

Confirmed COVID-19 infections after vaccination (Breakthrough infections) – 2,242 confirmed reports of COVID-19 infections. Most of the reported infections were asymptomatic cases. 165 severe cases resulted in a fatal outcome.

Myocarditis or Inflammation of the Heart – Five cases of myocarditis and one (1) case of pericarditis.

Guillain-Barré syndrome – Thirteen cases. Three cases were assessed as product-related reactions.

Bell’s palsy– Twenty-one

To my knowledge, this is the first article that compares adverse events among seven COVID-19 vaccines. Like in the US, the cases are most probably underreported.

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