The government will likely resume the deployment of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine following a favorable review by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) and the National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee (NAEFIC).
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also wrote Food and Drug Administration urging it to allow the continuous local use of the vaccine.
“They were unanimous that the benefit from the use of AstraZeneca vaccine outweighs its known potential risk,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said in an online press briefing on Thursday.
He noted the NAEFIC has yet to identify any people who got the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine who suffered blood clots.
But even in Europe, where said reports originated, he said the occurrence of blood clots for AstraZeneca jabs was rare.
“This happens one to every 150,000 [vaccine recipients] or 1 is to 1 million vaccinees,” Domingo said.
Last week, the government opted to halt the deployment of AstraZeneca jabs until FDA could review its potential health risks.
FDA said it will come out with the new guidelines for the use of the said vaccine this week.
The guidelines will contain the full disclosure of the potential health risk form the use of the said jab and the protocol on what to do in case it recipient exhibit some adverse symptoms.
Domingo said this will be a timely release especially since the next batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the Vaccines Global Access (Covax) facility are expected to arrive before the end of the month.
Image credits: AP/Matthias Schrader
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