NEW DELHI – India will carry out a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects from the AstraZeneca shot although no cases of blood clots have been reported in the country so far, an official said today.
New Delhi decided to conduct the review after several countries suspended roll-out over blood clot fears even as the World Health Organisation said there is no reason to stop using AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Denmark, Norway and Iceland paused use of the drug maker’s shot as a precaution after isolated reports of recipients developing blood clots.
“We are looking at all the adverse events, particularly serious adverse events like deaths and hospitalisation. We will come back if we find anything of concern,” N.K. Arora, a member of India’s national task force on Covid-19, said.
India has given at least 28 million shots in its vast vaccination drive, most of them AstraZeneca’s, which are produced at the India Serum Institute.
New Delhi has also gifted and allowed exports of millions of these shots to around 70 countries over the last few weeks as a part of its vaccine diplomacy.
Arora said there is “no immediate issue of concern as number of adverse events (in India) is very, very low. We are relooking at (adverse events that are reported) to see if there is any issue of blood clotting”.
“As of yesterday, there are 59 or 60 deaths, and they are all coincidental,” the doctor said, adding that hospitalisation cases are being re-examined.
“In fact, there is a real effort from our side that once complete investigation is done, to put its results in public domain on the Health Ministry’s website.”
India has been using AstraZeneca and indigenous vaccine giant Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in its rapidly expanding vaccination drive at home.
At least two million people were vaccinated on Friday alone, and this ramp up comes at a time when Covid-19 cases are rising across different Indian states after weeks of decline.
The western state of Maharashtra has announced fresh restrictions and a week-long lockdown in one of its big cities, Nagpur, after the recent spike across the region.
Restrictions, including curbs on movement and public gatherings, are also reintroduced in some pockets of the state, which is expected to impact the economic recovery in its industrial belt.
India has registered 23,285 new cases in the last 24 hours. – AFP, March 13, 2021
