No cases of adverse event involving blood clots have been reported in India in the case of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, according to top officials involved in the countrys coronavirus inoculation campaign, who also said a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects will be carried out next week.
The announcement came after several countries halted the roll-out of the AZD1222 vaccine, which is separately being administered in India as Covishield (the version made by Serum Institute of India). AstraZeneca, the World Health Organization and European Medicines Agency have said the shot is safe to use.
Nonetheless, India will review adverse events following immunisation data from across the country for any reports of blood clots or similar adverse reaction.
The review is taking place as a matter of abundant precaution, even though India so far has not reported any cases of clotting related damage that is in medical terms called thromboembolic phenomenon. It has been reported in a Scandinavian country, but we have decided to scrutinise India data very carefully, said Dr NK Arora, member of the national task force on Covid-19 vaccinations committee on AEFI.
After reports of blood clots and one death from Denmark, eight other countries — Norway, Iceland, Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Italy, and Latvia — also temporarily suspended use of AZD1222 as a precautionary measure.
