Philippines lifts halt on AstraZeneca jab for under 60s

MANILA • The Philippines will resume the use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine for people aged below 60, health officials said yesterday, ending a temporary suspension of the shot over reports of rare blood clots in younger recipients overseas.

"The benefit outweighs the risk. Only a small percentage of the population had these adverse effects for AstraZeneca," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a regular news conference, referring to the countries where blood clots had been reported.

Health authorities will release guidelines to include different precautions on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccines, Ms Vergeire added.

The European Medicines Agency had earlier recommended including blood clots as a rare side effect of the AstraZeneca shot.

The South-east Asian nation has yet to record blood clots as a side effect. It suspended the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine for people aged under 60 on April 8.

The Philippines, a country of 108 million people, is battling one of the worst outbreaks in Asia.

It has thus far administered less than 1.5 million shots of coronavirus vaccines, 86 per cent of which were first doses.

It has recorded more than 936,000 cases of Covid-19 infections and nearly 16,000 deaths due to the virus.

The Philippines has received 525,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax international vaccine-share facility.

Over 900,000 more are to be shipped in May or June, according to health ministry data.

Vaccines from China's Sinovac Biotech accounts for 83 per cent of doses so far delivered to the Philippines.

REUTERS