Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18) — AstraZeneca has assured the Philippines its COVID-19 vaccine is safe after a number of European countries paused their rollout over concerns it could be linked to blood clots, an official said Thursday.
“We had a meeting last night and the findings really are that the blood clotting events are similar to what would happen in a normal population without the vaccine or in populations that are vaccinated even with other brands,” Food and Drug Administration Director General Eric Domingo said in a briefing.
Over the weekend, AstraZeneca already released a statement regarding the matter, saying a “careful review” of more than 17 million people vaccinated with its shot in Europe and Britain found that there was “no evidence” of increased risk of clots.
Last week, Denmark announced it was suspending the use of the shot developed by AstraZeneca and Britain’s Oxford University, citing a few reports of clotting in people who had received the shot, including one fatal case. Norway followed shortly, citing four cases of blood clots after inoculation.
Several other countries have since hit the pause button on their rollout of the shot as a precautionary measure while European drug regulators are conducting a review on the reported cases.
But the Philippines stood by the AstraZeneca vaccine, following the advice of the World Health Organization.
The country has received over 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines through the global initiative COVAX. These shots, as well as doses of the vaccine made by Chinese firm Sinovac, are now being given to Filipino healthcare workers.
WHO country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe also said the Philippines will receive 4.5 million additional doses of AstraZeneca vaccines by April or May.
