Following the announcement by Denmark, Norway and Iceland that they have decided to temporarily suspend the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to investigate blood clots, Thailand will also move in this direction.
Astrazeneca : the decision of Thailand
In Thailand, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been suspended for the time being, following reports of blood clots. Thailand’s vaccination campaign advisor, Yong Poovorawan, said that this suspension, pending an investigation into the cause and a possible link between vaccine and side effects, will not have a serious impact on the launch.
However, there is no evidence of this possible link, nor any evidence of increased risk of thrombosis or pulmonary embolism following the administration of the vaccine. In fact it can be noted that the incidence is lower in the vaccinated than in the general population. The UK Medicines and Health Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also agrees with this view and believes that people should still be given the first dose when it is their turn. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also takes this view and points out that, compared to the nearly 5 million people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, there were 30 reports of blood clots in Europe.
The EMA also reported that in Austria a person died with blood clots 10 days after vaccination, but also stresses that at the moment there are no indications that the vaccine is the cause of this event.
Another person was admitted to hospital with pulmonary embolism after the vaccine.
At the moment, therefore, we expect the results of a period of analysis of the vaccine and these events of blood clot. Dr Bryan says that the safety of citizens and people is always at the top of the list, so the matter must be dealt with in a non-specific way.