Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Top virologist says vaccine type used in Thailand carries low risk of side-effects

Published

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 11:59

PHOTO: Thai Rath

A top virologist from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University says the inactivated Covid-19 vaccines that will be in use in Thailand carry a low risk of side-effects. Yong Poovorawan says the risk of a severe reaction such as anaphylaxis, is lower with the Chinese Sinovac jab and the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Posting on his Facebook page, Yong says a US study shows that 1 month after the administration of 13.7 vaccine doses, 4.5 cases of anaphylaxis were reported in 1 million patients. No deaths from anaphylaxis were reported. However, Yong says vaccines such as the Pfizer and Moderna jabs are a newer type of vaccine and therefore have the potential to have more side-effects.

“113 deaths reported after receiving the vaccines were proven after autopsy to not be directly related to the vaccines, according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. US uses mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which are relatively new and could have many undesirable side effects.”

Yong says that vaccines such as that developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University are virus vector vaccines, which have been studied for a long time, with a lower risk of side-effects.

“Inactivated vaccines, such as Sinovac’s, that will be used in Thailand should have even less chance of causing side effects including anaphylaxis.”

The first doses of the Chinese jab are expected to arrive in the Kingdom tomorrow, with the PM volunteering to be first to take it. Yong says Covid-19 inactivated vaccines have been developed in the same way as vaccines that have proven successful against other serious illnesses.

“They were created by the same procedures that are used to manufacture working vaccines, such as for rabies, polio and Hepatitis A. Those who are afraid of the side-effects of Covid-19 vaccine can rest assured, as vaccines that Thailand will use have the lowest chance of undesirable side effects. As many Thais as possible should get vaccinated to create a strong immunity, which would help return the outbreak situation to normal as soon as possible.”

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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23 Comments

Rob

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 12:57 pm

Is there any data demonstrating a continuing existence of protective levels of antibodies in vaccine trial participants since the first test vaccines were injected..?… and ongoing, timely testing of those same individuals..?

Reply
- Slugger
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:15 pm
  
  No. Why would you want it?
  
  Reply
  - Issan John
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:19 pm
    
    Because without it you can’t know if the vaccine’s effective for a week, a month, a year, or for life, Slugger – until people start to die again, which is a bit late.
    
    Reply
  - J West
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:26 pm
    
    “China” ? ‘ nuff said. Mind if I wait?
    
    Reply
    - Rob
      
      Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 3:12 pm
      
      I have a feeling we’ll all be waiting…. and waiting… at least unless/until any of our insurance providers alert us to a vaccine availability…
      
      Reply
- Issan John
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:16 pm
  
  AFAIK only in Israel, Rob, where it’s extensive with ongoing public reports – they’re testing 200,000 IIRC, with a control group of another 200,000 unvaccinated for comparison, with continued “ongoing, timely testing” of both groups.
  
  It was one of the conditions for Israel being given the vaccines in such quantities (the other being paying twice the market price 😮 ).
  
  There was no “ongoing, timely testing” of anyone in any of the Ph 3 tests by Pfizer, Moderna or AZ except those who were symptomatic -literally no testing at all, which was a surprise to the WHO and many experts who had just assumed it would happen but it was never stipulated.
  
  Go figure …..
  
  Reply
- jani careni
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 9:47 pm
  
  no
  
  Reply
Gosport

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:04 pm

Science says in Thailand. Time to invest.

Reply
Lily

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 3:40 pm

A lot of countries in Europe stopped with Astrazeneca because of the lack of immunity response.

Reply
- Robert Bunker
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 3:59 pm
  
  Lily. A lot of countries in Europe stopped with AZ because of their leaders playing silly games with the UK. Their loss, as will unfortunately be seen in death figures in coming weeks as numbers soar in Europe.
  
  Reply
  - Denis
    
    Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 4:29 pm
    
    What i can say about AZ is coming from experience of my nephew who is doctor in Covid service, in a french hospital.
    He and his colleagues (young team less than 45 yo) has been injected AZ last week. 6 hours after injection, all of them had about 39°C fever and strong headaches. Many of them had to stop working and stay in bed 3 days. They just begin to feel better…
    AZ, not for me !
    
    Reply
  - Lily
    
    Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 1:39 am
    
    Nope…that’s not right. Because the vaccine is not working enough, especially in older people.
    
    Reply
- Alavan
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 5:32 pm
  
  No they didn’t. It is still used, but some countries put an age limit of 55 years on it, awaiting more research on older people. There only seems some hesitance in Germany.
  
  Reply
Lily

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 3:45 pm

“113 deaths reported after receiving the vaccines were proven after autopsy to not be directly related to the vaccines”

When you die with underlaying conditions and Covid, you died of Covid

When you die after taking the vaccine, then it’s because of your age, underlying conditions. But it’s never the vaccine. Get real!!

Reply
luca

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 3:53 pm

Israel has vaccinated almost half of its population, the first data confirm an efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine equal to 94% against hospitalization and 100% against serious cases, moreover it seems that the vaccinated are not able to infect others, if confirmed would be excellent results. The Chinese vaccine is not guaranteed by similar and international studies, only Brazil has released data that are not very positive, and all the countries that adopt the Chinese vaccine are dictatorships, instead of the Thai I would not be comfortable with the Chinese vaccine

Reply
Denis

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 4:22 pm

Once again, I can only agree with the choices of the Thai government. Their choice to eliminate MODERNA and PFIZER is reasonable: Too many unknowns in terms of side effects in the short, medium and long term. I’m not the big pharma guinea pig…
Favoring the traditional method of SINOVAC and possibly that of ASTRAZENECA is a choice of reason.
Personally, I would only vaccinate with SINOVAC, having doubts with ASTRAZENECA. My doctor nephew and his French hospital colleagues received it 10 days ago and all had high fevers, headaches for several days. They’re just recovering.

Reply
- Gosport
  
  Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 6:10 pm
  
  Traditional one is fine considering such short trial period.
  
  Reply
Ian

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 7:15 pm

Nobody knows long term affects yet it’s not a year old only time will tell if the world has rushed these vaccines

Reply
Ben

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 7:52 pm

Side effects like fever, headache, muscle ache and pain at the injection site are common and mean your body is mounting an immune response which is what you hope for.

The trials to date concentrated on safety and studying whether vaccines prevented you from becoming infected and seriously ill because people were dying from COVID and we had to stop that to get back to a normal life. We don’t have answers for pregnancy, children, infectiousness after vaccination, how long the vaccine lasts and a lot of other questions people have because the scientists haven’t had time to answer them. They are now turning their attention to that as job one appears to have been accomplished. The answers to these questions will come in the near future.

Israel has vaccinated about half its population with Pfizer and is opening up their country internally after having one of the worst infection rates early in the pandemic. They’re gathering data on their entire population for use in studying the vaccine and answering all the questions people have about efficacy, side effects, infectiousness after vaccination, variants, etc. Unless there is a major hiccup the country should be back to a new normal in a very short period of time and we’ll have a lot more answers to our questions.

We would all like to wait until all the questions are answered before taking the vaccine but by then all our economies will be dead. Safety and efficacy for now is what we have and is a good basis for vaccination and opening up the world.

For me personally that’s good enough as I get my second dose of Pfizer this Sunday. Not only will I feel better about not getting COVID and becoming severely ill, I’ll feel good about helping my country recover from this terrible pandemic. I’ll be able to gather with friends and family who have also vaccinated without fear of spreading it to them. I’ll also begin to travel again and get on with my life. I expect to get a few side effects that’ll last about a day.

Reply
Yan

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 8:02 pm

A low risk for side-effects…and a low and/or not proven efficacy…Compared to the Western vaccines this product is worthless.

Reply
Jim kelly

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 8:42 pm

I’M OK CHAPS… I DON’T NEED A VACCINE.

Reply
Richard

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 8:28 am

I’m already immune, I live in Issan where no one quarantines.

Reply
Stardust

Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 10:01 am

There is no data disclosure til now from Sinovac! He only can talk about the datas from biontech and others which have a open data base. This virilogist leaning out the window if he is doing so and no serious top virologist in europe, usa ,Israel or Japan would do so. Also Singapore warned about because of insuffient datas! He should first listen what tge real top virologist say in the civilized free developped world before talking about something what not exist!

Reply

Maya Taylor

A seasoned writer, with a degree in Creative Writing. Over ten years' experience in producing blog and magazine articles, news reports and website content.

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