Adverse Effects After Taking Vaccine Are Normal – Prof Abayomi

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, has said it is normal for the body to react to vaccines after taking them.

Naija News reports that Professor Abayomi said normal adverse effects like soreness, feeling hot or cold, and feeling dizzy were expected after taking vaccines.

He stated this while speaking to newsmen on Tuesday as the state government kicked off a series of vaccine programmes for children.

According to him, vaccines without adverse effects would not be a good one. He said the staff of the ministry were on the ground to monitor the students as they received the vaccines.

His words: “Whenever you are vaccinated, there is something called adverse event monitoring. Every vaccine comes with a potential risk of some adverse event. The most common adverse event is a little bit of soreness around the site of the vaccine. If there is no soreness and sometimes they develop a mild fever, then the vaccine is not working. So if we give a population a vaccine and you ask them afterwards, did you have any feelings? And they say, no, I didn’t feel anything. Then you have to suspect whether that vaccine is actually a proper vaccine. Because that’s how vaccines work. They simulate the illness. So if I give you a vaccine, I expect you to have some side effects. Commonly around the injection site, a bit of soreness, a bit of stiffness or pain. If that happens, then we know that the vaccine is working.

“Additionally, you might feel a little bit feverish or you might feel hot or cold. That means your immune system has recognized the vaccine that we’ve injected into you. It is using that opportunity to ramp up its immune system. So adverse events are normal. Mild adverse events are normal.

“Occasionally, we have very serious adverse events where a patient may develop an allergic reaction or may collapse. With diphtheria, tetanus, booster, it is a very, very rare occurrence. Nonetheless, we have our staff on the ground. Because the children are in the school, they are not coming here vaccinating and going around their business. It is very easy for us to monitor the children after the vaccine.

“Our staff are all on the ground. You can see the full complement of our public health agency here. Several, 10, 20, 30, 40 of them are here. They are going to be vaccinating all day. Next day, day after, and they remain on ground. They are also educating the teachers on what to expect with an adverse event. So we are on ground here. “

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