A 38-year-old Ministry of Health and Medical Services worker said she almost died after receiving the AstraZeneca injection at the National Referral Hospital on Monday morning.
“I received the injection at 10 am on Monday. I felt alright, but it was shortly after I had walked back to my workplace at the Ministry that I started feeling unwell,” she told Solomon Star on Tuesday.
“My whole body was numbed and I could not even get up from my chair. It was awful. I thought I was going to die. My workmates brought some biscuits to eat but I could not even open my mouth,” she said.
The mother of two said she was rushed by ambulance back to the National Referral Hospital, where doctors were running around as if they too seemed unsure as to what was happening.
She said she received three injections and was twice ex-rayed overnight. She was also given intravenous drug infusion as she was kept under observation at the NRH overnight.
She was released from the hospital early yesterday morning. The woman told Solomon Star that she has since developed swellings on both legs.
Asked why she took the injection, she said that she and her workmates at the Ministry were more or less felt threatened by the government with dismissal if they did not take the jab.
“So we went along because we were afraid of losing our jobs,” she said.
It is understood several other workers felt some form of dizziness after taking the injection.
The woman’s case is the first known reaction from the vaccine since the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout began last week. She is due for a review of her condition on Thursday, April 1.
The Secretary to the Prime Minister (SPM) Jimmy Rodgers last Sunday appealed to health workers to follow the Prime Minister’s directive in getting the injection, saying the injection would stop the community spread of the coronavirus.
Dr. Rodgers told the radio talkback show the government was hoping that people would come forward, particularly the health professionals to use up the 7, 000 doses that are still in Honiara by Friday.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was the first to take the jab after 24, 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Honiara last week. Minister of Health and Medical Services Culwick Togamae followed.
By Alfred Sasako
Honiara Newsroom
