4 Taiwanese given AstraZeneca shot have adverse reactions, 40% have headaches

4名台灣人在施打阿斯利康後出現不良反應，其中40％為頭痛

Out of 3,218 Taiwanese vaccinated with AstraZeneca jab, 50% feel fatigue, 40% get chills


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday (March 24) announced that out of over 3,000 medical personnel who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine so far, there have been four reports of non-serious adverse reactions, while other side effects have been reported.

Starting on Monday (March 22), injections of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine were commenced at 58 hospitals across Taiwan. By Monday, the number of hospitals providing the vaccine had risen to 72.

According to the CECC, a total of 1,580 doses were injected into health care professionals on the first day. On Tuesday, 1,638 medical workers received the shots, for a total of 3,218 over the first two days of the inoculation program.

Of these recipients, four reported non-serious adverse reactions. There have not been any reports of severe adverse reactions that required hospitalization.

To coincide with the vaccinations, the CECC launched the "V-Watch" system to enable vaccine recipients to report their health status on a daily basis after being vaccinated. Thus far, 1,667 people have registered in the system, and 742 have reported vaccination-related side effects.

The most commonly reported side effect at 63 percent was pain at the site of the injection, followed by muscle ache at 55 percent, fatigue at 52.6 percent, headache at 43 percent, and chills at 41.8 percent. Health Minister and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who was the second person in Taiwan to receive the vaccine after Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), said that after receiving the shot, he had a sore back and slight fever that evening.

However, he said that as of Wednesday, he no longer feels any side effects and only feels pain at the injection site if he deliberately presses on it.