JOHNSON STANDS BY UK VACCINE
AstraZeneca shots are safe and work well, writes British PM in newspaper
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson yesterday defended the safety of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after several European countries halted its rollout over blood clot fears.
Germany, Italy and France on Monday joined others in suspending the vaccine, dealing a potential blow to the global immunisation campaign against a disease that has killed more than 2.6 million people.
However, the World Health Organisation, AstraZeneca, and the European Medicines Agency have insisted the shot is safe, and that there is no link between it and reported blood clots. The British leader yesterday echoed assurances that the jab was not harmful.
“That vaccine is safe and works extremely well,” Johnson wrote
The Times
in newspaper.
“It is being made in multiple places from India to the United States, as well as Britain, and it is being used around the world,” he added.
Fears have grown in some countries over the safety of the vaccine after several cases of blood clots or brain haemorrhages in people after receiving the inoculation, with a small number of deaths reported.
But AstraZeneca and medical
experts in Britain have said there is no evidence of clots being caused by the jab or that they were occurring in greater numbers or frequency than in the general population.
The vaccine was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in Britain, where more than 11 million doses have been administered, without any major problems reported.
On Monday, Johnson told reporters that Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is “one of the toughest and most experienced regulators in the world”.
“They see no reason at all to discontinue the vaccination programme... for either of the vaccines that we’re currently using,” he said.
“We continue to be very confident about the programme and it’s great to see it being rolled out at such speed across the UK.”
In Bangkok, Thailand’s prime minister yesterday received the AstraZeneca vaccine as the Southeast Asian nation began the drug’s rollout, lifting a suspension that was triggered by European nations raising safety concerns.
The country became the first outside of Europe to temporarily delay the Covid-19 vaccine.
“Today, we will start injections on another vaccine. I think it will create confidence for people to get the vaccine,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o Cha said.
The gruff former general’s jab was initially scheduled for Friday but it was postponed at the last minute following the delay. The country’s political leaders went ahead with their jabs yesterday.