Thailand postpones PM's vaccination with AstraZeneca jab

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thailand has postponed the public vaccination of its prime minister with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after three European countries paused their rollout of the jab owing to health concerns, Financial Times reports.

Prayuth Chan-ocha and members of his government had been scheduled to receive the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which is Thailand’s core immunization response to Covid-19, in a Friday, March 12 morning ceremony at the kingdom’s health ministry. Reporters who had gathered at the scene were informed of the delay only after they arrived.

Thailand is the first Asian country to temporary halt the vaccination drive. Health authorities said they had suspended the rollout after “side effects or adverse symptoms” were observed in some people who received it.

“To slow down or to pause vaccinations to investigate is common medical practice,” Anutin Charnvirakul, the deputy prime minister and health minister, said in a Facebook post. He added that the government’s vaccine management committee had taken action to ensure “the maximum safety of the public”.

Thailand acted after Denmark, Norway and Iceland on Thursday suspended use of the vaccine after reports of blood clots in a small number of people who received it. However, the EU’s medicines regulator said there was “currently no indication” that the vaccine had caused the clots.