PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will decide on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19 following a report by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) of rare blood clots being a possible side effect, says Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
“We take note of the EMA announcement on the AstraZeneca vaccine. @JKJAVMY will deliberate on the matter and decide if we will go ahead with using AZ in our portfolio of vaccines, ” he tweeted yesterday.
(JKJAVMY refers to the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee.)
“Safety is paramount, ” said Khairy, who also shared a tweet posted by the EMA on Wednesday.
The EMA tweet quoted its executive director Emer Cooke as saying that an in-depth analysis flagged “unusual” blood clots as a possible side effect of the AstraZeneca jab.
“The #PRAC, after an in-depth analysis, has concluded that the reported cases of unusual blood clots following vaccination with (the) AstraZeneca #Covid19 vaccine should be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine, ” EMA wrote.
PRAC is EMA’s committee that assesses all aspects of risk management of medicines for human use.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Malaysia will decide on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after the release of the EMA’s findings on the vaccine.
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