Global Courant 2023-04-30 14:00:56
SUBSCRIBERS EXCLUSIVE
It is an official document prepared by the province of Buenos Aires. Details the incidence of serious and non-serious adverse effects.
While the guidelines of the Federal Health Council are still awaited to find out how the Covid vaccine should continue to be applied in the post-pandemic, an official balance was published on the number of adverse effects caused by each brand. From there also arises the proportion of this figure over the total doses applied by each laboratory.
Despite the fact that different quantities of vaccines were used depending on the brand, the ranking in absolute numbers in this case coincides quite closely with that which measures the same data in relative terms. The vaccines that caused the most serious adverse effects were two of the first three that Argentina applied in its vaccination campaign.
The one that registered the highest incidence of serious unwanted effects was AstraZeneca, followed by Sputnik V. Then comes Sinopharm. And the fourth and fifth place are from Moderna and Pfizer.
The data comes from a report prepared by the Ministry of Health of the province of Buenos Aires, which in its epidemiological bulletin defines serious adverse effects as those that required hospitalization and medical attention.
The statistics were made based on the more than 44 million doses applied in that territory (out of the 115 million supplied in the country). It also accounts for the non-serious adverse effects registered.
Minister of Health of the province of Buenos Aires, Nicolás Kreplak. Photo: Mauricio Nievas
First of all, it must be clarified that the average number of serious effects registered (among all the vaccines) was 2.5 per 100,000 doses applied. Only AstraZeneca and Sputnik V appear above that limit, with values above average, and the rest are below.
Another striking fact, which contradicts what could be supposed a priori, is that the two vaccines whose platforms were developed with messenger RNA technology, never used before until the pandemic, were the ones that registered the fewest adverse effects, both serious and not serious.
Going to the numbers: AstraZeneca had a total of 411 serious adverse effects, Sputnik V, 265; Sinopharm, 214; Pfizer, 112; and Moderna, 95. In terms of incidence (based on the total doses applied by each laboratory), AstraZeneca had 4.2 serious cases per 100,000, Sputnik V, 3.4 per 100,000; Sinopharm, 1.9; Moderna 1.5 and Pfizer 1.3.
A health worker vaccinates a woman in August 2021 with a dose of AstraZeneca in the province of Buenos Aires. Photo: Reuters
In non-serious adverse effects, the general average was 47 per 100,000. There, Sputnik V takes the lead, with an incidence of 162 per 100,000, followed by AstraZeneca, with 44 per 100,000; Sinopharm and Moderna are quite far behind, with 10 each; and finally Pfizer, with 7. Once again, the mRNA vaccines registered the lowest proportion of unwanted events.
The absolute numbers of non-serious side effects indicate 12,626 for Sputnik V; 4,340 for AstraZeneca; 1,066 for Sinopharm; 646 for Moderna and 599 for Pfizer. Another striking fact is the number of non-serious effects of the Pfizer pediatric vaccine: 1,277, while for Moderna pediatric there were only 16. The number of vaccines applied from one laboratory to the other was similar.
The Buenos Aires document explains: “An event supposedly attributable to vaccination and immunization (ESAVI) is defined as any unexpected health situation (unfavorable or unintentional sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom or disease) that occurs after vaccination. and that it does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the vaccination or with the biological product”.
Then it adds: “Considering the severity of the ESAVI, up to the date of this report, 94.9 percent (20,593) of the total ESAVIs notified correspond to non-serious events and 5.1 percent (1,107) to serious events due to present signs/symptoms that required the intervention of the health team for treatment (monitoring and hospitalization)”.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO. The agency recommends an annual dose of the bivalent vaccine. Photo: Reuters
Currently, the recommendation of the WHO and the United States Government has been to apply an annual dose of the bivalent vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna), designed for the ancestral Wuhan virus and the Omicron variant. Bivalent vaccine that, in addition, is the one that has registered the fewest serious adverse effects in the province of Buenos Aires, with 1 case per million doses applied.
Another detail that emerges from the Buenos Aires report is that the highest incidence of adverse effects occurred with the first doses applied and that these undesired effects then decreased as the second and third doses were administered.
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