Japanese hospital develops system for coronavirus vaccine side effects info
(Mainichi Japan)
TSU -- A system that collects and supplies information on coronavirus vaccine side effects among inoculated people has been developed by the National Mie Hospital in this western Japan city.
Dubbed "COV-Safe," the system is designed for health care professionals and other vaccinated individuals to enter the symptoms of any side effects they experienced, thereby enabling accurate information gathering in real-time. The collected data can be viewed on the system's website: (https://sites.google.com/view/cov-safe/).
According to the Mie Prefectural Government, the development of a system for surveys on vaccine side effects is generally uncommon in Japan.
About 15 or 30 minutes after inoculation, COV-Safe users receive a questionnaire via free communications app Line regarding side effects. If they experienced any, they can choose from the symptoms listed in the questionnaire.
Furthermore, they will receive a follow-up survey every day for a week after inoculation, as well as ones 14 and 20 days after the shots. The follow-ups, sent at 7 p.m., will ask whether they have a fever, headache or other symptoms, thereby allowing them to be under constant health monitoring.
The system is already in operation, and health care workers inoculated at three medical facilities where the prefecture's priority vaccinations are underway have signed up with the system.
System users can access the website to see data collected via Line in real-time. As of 5 p.m. March 3, the system had information on 353 medical staff and other vaccinated individuals, and it displays charts of how many people experienced what kind of side effects.
At a March 3 press conference, Mie Gov. Eikei Suzuki said, "With so much information available, some people are at a loss as to what information is reliable. As this system provides information on a real-time basis, we hope people will (use it) so they can receive inoculations with their minds at ease."
(Japanese original by Ayaka Morita, Tsu Bureau)
