The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote to the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday (April 15) recommending to lift the suspension of the administration of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
According to FDA Director-General Eric Domingo, the recommendation of the World Health Organization, vaccine expert panel, local experts, and adverse event committee was unanimous.
“Ang AstraZeneca – ang paggamit niya bilang bakuna – overall ay talagang the benefit outweighs the known and the potential risks [The benefit of using AstraZeneca as a vaccine outweighs the known and potential risks],” Domingo said in a palace briefing also on Thursday.
On April 8, the Philippines temporarily suspended the rollout of the vaccine to individuals aged 59 years old and below due to reported incidents of blood clotting in some recipients abroad.
However, the FDA said these incidents of adverse effects are not common.
“Dito sa atin, wala pang nakita ang adverse events committee natin na similar cases. Pero sa Europa at ibang parte ng mundo, nakitang very rare naman ito [Our adverse events committee has not yet recorded similar cases in our country. In Europe and other parts of the world, this is very rare],” he explained.
The health official said the recommendation is timely, because the country is expecting the arrival of the next batch of vaccines to cover the second dose inoculation of frontline workers in two to three weeks.
“At the same time, magkakaroon ng panahon ang DOH, ang nag-implement ng immunization program na gumawa ng mga bagong guidelines [At the same time, the DOH, the implementer of the immunization program, will be given time to update the guidelines],” he added. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-jlo
