Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said on Monday that the AstraZeneca vaccine which is currently used in the country is safe and rollout will continue.
Sogavare said this in response to unsubstantiated reports linking the occurrence of clotting disorders with the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The global scientific community and the World Health Organisation have only discovered 78 cases of blood clotting episodes out of over 200 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines administered throughout the world.
They also could not establish a direct co-relation between taking the vaccine and blood clotting episodes.
“Our COVID-19 vaccine technical working group comprising of Ministry of Health and Medical Services, World Health Organisations and UNICEF health and immunization experts have continually reviewed global literature as well as our own records to date and our conclusion is that AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and its roll-out will continue,” Sogavare said.
Health Authorities are prepared to pick up any side effect when it occurs and deal with it promptly so that those affected are assisted if there is a need for this to occur.
“I am happy to advise that our health people are capable. They are trained to recognise early signs of side effects and they are trained to respond to them effectively,” he added.
“AstraZeneca vaccine is currently the best protection any of us will have against COVID-19”.
Source: GCU Media Release