NDA records 2,000 cases of  Covid vaccine side effects

Mr Rodgers Mave, a mower who resides in Makindye Division West, Kampala, says he will never forget the night of August 17 after he took his first dose of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

“I had struggled to access Covid-19 vaccine, so my boss arranged and they brought the vaccines at her place. I took the jab from there… then at night, the problem came; the coldness I faced was inexplicable. I had never experienced something like that. I thought I was going to die,” he told this reporter.

“My bedsheet couldn’t give me the warmth I needed and neither did I have strength to get out of my bed to look for another bedsheet [to increase body cover],” Mr Mave said a few weeks ago. He says he only got relieved after taking some medicines.
Mr Mave is not the only person who has experienced side effects from Covid-19 vaccines since the government started administering the shots in March.

Dr Helen Byomire Ndagije, the director for Product Safety at the National Drug Authority (NDA), says they have registered up to 2,253 cases of Covid-19 vaccine side effects between April and September 2021. 
She says the cases were reported out of a total of 2,200,321 doses of different types of vaccines that had been administered across the country.

But NDA says of all the cases reported countrywide, there is no single confirmation of death caused by the vaccine.
The information that is contained in NDA’s safety monitoring bulletin published on their website on Thursday, shows that at least 1 in 1,000 vaccine recipients reported some side effects, but it was more rampant among those who took the AstraZeneca jabs.

The NDA Pharmaceutical Bulletin for October 2021 indicates that at least 1,962 recipients of AstraZeneca vaccines exhibited side effects while those who took the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have so far manifested no side effects. But there are other 262 people who reports didn’t specify the vaccine brand.

Up to 181 “adverse events” after the jab and 51 “serious cases,” including blood clots after taking the vaccine shots, were reported. 

At least 21 men reported cases of erectile dysfunction which persisted for about one week after taking the jab. 
At least 10 women have also reported irregular menstruation after taking the vaccine.

“In Uganda, three cases suspected to be thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) out of the 2 million doses administered were investigated and they were unlikely linked to the Covid-19 vaccine because they did not meet the internationally accepted criteria for TTS,” NDA wrote in the bulletin.

TTS is a rare effect of the vaccine manifesting as blood clots (thrombosis) as well as low blood platelet counts (thrombocytopenia).
Several countries have reported cases of TTS.

The product label of AstraZeneca has since been revised to include this very rare event. The event is reported to rarely occur usually between day 4 and 20 days after vaccination. NDA has asked health workers to quickly report such occurrences for more investigations.
There have been a number of reports of people dying after taking the Covid-19 jabs in the country.

Cases that families of the affected cite include a 5th year medical student of Busitema University, Ms Rosette Kyarikunda, and Mr Okuku Obomba, a lecturer at Uganda Christian University in Mukono. 
Some of their family members and friends say their loved ones could have died as a result of complications arising out of the Covid-19 vaccines.

The families say the two experienced the symptoms that eventually worsened and led to their death after the jabs.
“In general, the most frequently reported side effects suspected to be associated with the vaccines include general disorders and administration site conditions contributed 75 percent and they include pyrexia, malaise , injection site pain,  sore arm, fever , malaise , chest discomfort,  and chills, among others,” the bulletin reads in part.

It continues: “Nervous system disorders contributed 58 percent; they included headache, fatigue, monoplegia, and hypoaesthesia.”

NDA asked Ugandans to report all reactions whether minor or serious after taking the vaccine using the following platforms Toll free: 0800 101 999 WhatsApp line 0740002070 or Dial *284*99# for Covid-19 (Vaccine AEFI reports only) or use NDA reporting Cards [email protected] and through Medsafety app.

Despite the unpredictable outcome of the jabs, the drugs authority maintains that “the benefit of the vaccine outweighs any safety issue identified during studies. The Authority will continue to monitor the benefit-risk profile of the vaccine as more information about Covid-19 disease and the available vaccines evolves.”

“Like all medicines, Covid-19 vaccines may have some side effects (also known as Adverse Events Following Immunisation, AEFI). The majority of these side effects are mild and resolve within a few days. More side effects that are serious can occur after vaccination but are very rare,” it added in the bulletin.

SCIENTISTS SAY...
Dr Misaki Wayengera, an immunologist and the head of scientists advising the government on Covid-19, says there is no need for alarm. 
He says such events after vaccination are common even in other routine immunisation against polio and measles in children where injection pain and fever are always experienced by recipients. 
‘‘There are common things like fever, headache that are reported that shouldnt be a cause of concern but since they are reported...they are recorded and figure comes to that,’’ he said yesterday.

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