DOH and FDA: No pause in Astrazeneca vax rollout

The Department of health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday said there is no reason to halt the rollout of Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccines in the country, notwithstanding reports that some vaccinees in Denmark and Norway reportedly developed blood clots.

“At present, the DOH and FDA emphasize that there is no indication for the Philippines to stop [the] rollout of Astrazeneca vaccines. The DOH, National Task Force and FDA are closely coordinating on this matter,” the DOH explained.

To ease public concern and worry, the DOH assured they will “closely monitor all deployed vaccines.”

Both DOH and FDA admitted that they are aware that some countries in the european Union have recently paused their vaccination campaign with Covid-19 vaccine Astrazeneca. The latest country to follow suit, according to news wire reports, was Thailand.

“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.”

Moreover, the european Medicine Authority (EMA) has also emphasized that there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine, saying, “The position of ema’s safety committee—pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee [PRAC] is that 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.

It added that PRAC is already reviewing all cases of thromboembolic events and other conditions related to blood clots following inoculation.