No severe side effects for COVID-19 vaccine second dose: senior health official
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar has been working above and beyond to protect the health of its citizens and residents.
Following the Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) dedicated efforts to secure a safe and reliable COVID-19 vaccine, the country kicked off the first phase of its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on December 23, 2020.
As the campaign nears a month, thousands of individuals have already received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
In an interview with Qatar Television, a senior public health official confirmed that no severe side effects have been observed in people who took the second shot of the vaccine, so far.
"Most complaints were about mild topical pain, body ache and mild high temperature, which all pass quickly without the need for any medication," Dr Soha al-Bayat, head of vaccination at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said.
The official also dismissed myths regarding some foods and drinks that could lead to side effects of the vaccine.
Regarding the target groups response to the vaccine, Dr al-Bayat mentioned that the turnout has been excellent.
"Very few people failed to show up for the second dose. Most of them came a little bit after the original appointment. Some of them have high temperature or pain, in which case it is normally recommended to delay the second dose," she said.
الدكتورة سهى البيات، رئيس قسم التطعيمات في إدارة حماية الصحة ومكافحة الأمراض الانتقالية بوزارة الصحة : هناك استجابة عالية من المجتمع لأخذ التطعيم ولا يوجد من تخلف عن تلقي الجرعة الثانية من لقاح كوفيد19#المسافة_الاجتماعية #تلفزيون_قطر pic.twitter.com/t5MqTve9eE
— تلفزيون قطر (@QatarTelevision) January 18, 2021
Those who receive both doses of the vaccine will be provided an accredited COVID-19 vaccination certificate by MoPH. This will contain all the relevant details and will be in Arabic and English.
Talking about the vaccination for the remaining groups and the wider community, the official said, "More batches of the vaccine would be received in the country, so more people could be covered until the desired herd immunity is achieved."
She emphasized that everyone must continue to adhere to preventive and precautionary measures even after they have received the second dose of the vaccine until about 75 percent of the population has been vaccinated.
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Source: Gulf Times
