MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday emphasized that there is no indication for the Philippines to stop rollout of AstraZeneca vaccines amid reports of blood clots in people who received the vaccine.
The health authorities said they are aware of a few countries in the European Union which have recently paused their vaccination campaign with COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.
"This has been decided as a precautionary measure, while they conduct a full investigation to determine causality between the vaccination and the reported adverse events following immunization," DOH said in a statement.
DOH echoed the position of European Medicine Authority (EMA), saying that there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.
"The vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing," statement from EMA reads.
The heath department, together with the National task Force and FDA assured the public that they will closely monitor all deployed vaccines.
The Philippines recently received 525,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines supplied by global initiative COVAX facility. World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said the country will receive 4.5 million additional doses of AstraZeneca vaccines by April or May.
Immunization program of the DOH using Chinese vaccine Sinovac is also ongoing.
— The Summit Express
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| The immunization program of the Philippines using AstraZeneca vaccines to continue amid reports of blood clots in people who received the vaccine in Europe. |
The health authorities said they are aware of a few countries in the European Union which have recently paused their vaccination campaign with COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.
"This has been decided as a precautionary measure, while they conduct a full investigation to determine causality between the vaccination and the reported adverse events following immunization," DOH said in a statement.
DOH echoed the position of European Medicine Authority (EMA), saying that there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.
"The vaccine’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing," statement from EMA reads.
The heath department, together with the National task Force and FDA assured the public that they will closely monitor all deployed vaccines.
The Philippines recently received 525,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines supplied by global initiative COVAX facility. World Health Organization country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said the country will receive 4.5 million additional doses of AstraZeneca vaccines by April or May.
Immunization program of the DOH using Chinese vaccine Sinovac is also ongoing.
— The Summit Express
