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‘No Astra-Zeneca blood clots in SL’

17 Mar 2021

Whilst a number of countries have suspended the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine rollout due to concerns over side effects including blood clots, the Ministry of Health’s Epidemiology Unit said that complications such as blood clots subsequent to the administration of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca Covishield vaccine from India have not been reported in Sri Lanka so far. Speaking to The Morning on 15 March, Ministry of Health Epidemiology Unit Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said that the post-vaccine surveillance programme has not reported such blood clots thus far. “We are conducting post-vaccine surveillance and if there are reports of complications, we will be thoroughly investigating as to whether they are coincidental associations or not. So far, no such blood clots have been reported to us.” Austria, Norway, and Denmark are amongst some of the European countries that halted their rollout of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine due to reported blood clots. However, the World Health Organisation said on 12 March that there is no need to suspend the rollout, claiming that there is no indication of such blood clots being caused by the said vaccine.  However, the World Health Organisation's vaccine safety experts were due to meet on Tuesday (16) to discuss the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, as the list of countries temporarily halting its rollout over blood clot concerns continued to grow. On Tuesday, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Latvia, and Sweden became the latest European nations to suspend its use, despite advice from international medical agencies that the benefits of getting shots into arms outweigh any potential risks. Meanwhile, speaking to The Morning yesterday (16), National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kamal Jayasinghe said that the review process of the Sinopharm vaccine from China has reached the final stages. “We cannot say as to when the final decision would be issued but the process has reached its final stages as most of the reviewing has been completed by the expert committee.” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed the health authorities on 15 March to expedite the process of granting emergency use approval to the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine Sinopharm.  


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