After some European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine owing to reports of adverse reactions in some patients, Cabinet ministers abruptly postponed their Covid-19 inoculations planned for Friday.
On Friday morning, the prime minister and other cabinet ministers were to be vaccinated at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, which is part of the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi province.
Some were supposed to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, and others were expected to get the Sinovac vaccine from China. All vaccinations were suspended.
AstraZeneca had sent batch ABB5300, one million doses, of its vaccine to 17 European Union countries, according to Prof Dr. Prasit Watanapa, dean of Mahidol University's faculty of medicine Siriraj Hospital, during a press conference at the ministry.
In Denmark, one vaccine recipient died after the inoculations started, and many others developed blood clots, he said.
The Danish government then put a two-week suspension on vaccine inoculations to do further investigation. He said that Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Austria, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Estonia, and Latvia also followed suit.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) was in charge of the investigation.,lm,
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported that perhaps the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe, but said it would investigate the matter more.
"The European Medicines Agency (EMA) compared the levels of blood clots in vaccine recipients and non-recipients and found no differences. This is why the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has indicated that there should be no relation between the vaccine and autism," Prof Prasit said.
He also said that the AstraZeneca vaccine sent to Thailand was not in the tainted batch.
Prof Prasit noted that inoculations will resume if the vaccine is cleared by the investigation.
Prof Dr. Yong Poovorawan, head of Chulalongkorn University's Centre of Excellence of Clinical Virology, said that in certain recipients, vaccination naturally preceded unpleasant symptoms, and that research was then conducted to see whether the symptoms were due to the vaccination.
Many elderly Africans and Europeans who were inactive, he said, could develop blood clots in veins, blocking blood from reaching the lungs. Europeans were three times more likely than Asians to show these symptoms.
"We believe that genetic factors play a significant role in the illness, which occurs in regular activities," says the researcher. The vaccine was injected in three million doses from this batch. Twenty-two people got blood clots, and one of them died. Prof Yong clarified that this is a seven-in-a-million case.
Last month, Thailand received 117,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses sooner than expected.
"By postponing the vaccine, we are not saying that it is unsafe." This postponement is to allow for verification of whether the vaccine or the batch of the vaccine has any concerns.
"That batch was produced in Europe," states the narrator. Prof. Yong clarified, "We use an Asian batch."
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