Thailand to start using AstraZeneca vaccine Tuesday after delay over safety
By Panarat Thepgumpanat

FILE PHOTO: Vials labelled "Astra Zeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo, in this illustration photo taken March 14, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will start using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday after a brief delay due to concerns over its safety, officials said, with the prime minister and his cabinet due to be the first to receive it.

Thailand was on Friday the first country outside of Europe to suspend use of the AstraZeneca shot. Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands suspended their use of the vaccine over blood clotting issues.

Natreeya Thaweewong of the spokesperson's office of government house told reporters in a text message that the delayed inoculations of Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his ministers would take place on Tuesday morning.

AstraZeneca said on Sunday it had undertaken a "careful review" of data from more than 17 million people vaccinated in the United Kingdom and European Union, which showed "no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia."

Thai Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul earlier on Monday said the AstraZeneca vaccine would be given to the cabinet if cleared by local health experts, who were meeting on Monday.

Anutin said many countries had confirmed there were no issues of blood clots as a side effect of the vaccine and would continue administering it.

"Our academic committee said it should be given and they will meet this afternoon for more confidence," he added.

"If there is no further information, it will be given tomorrow," he said.

Thailand's mass vaccination strategy is heavily reliant on the AstraZeneca shot, which will be produced locally from June for regional distribution, with 61 million doses reserved for its population.

Thailand has imported some AstraZeneca vaccine shots in addition to 200,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine from China for medical workers and high-risk groups. A further 800,000 Sinovac doses would arrive on March 20, Anutin said on his Facebook page.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Orathai Sriring; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Ed Davies)

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-15

 

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4 minutes ago, webfact said:

would be given to the cabinet on Tuesday if cleared by local health experts.

Thought Sinovac was being given to those under the supposed age cap, and the good PM and his little fat DPM decided they wanted the AZ vaccine because they were to old based upon the studies.  Looks like the better vaccine is for the cabinet or is it going to be placed in a cabinet at government house......

The inevitability of this new announcement was very obvious from the beginning.

Followers not leaders

PM and hes friends chance diaper (coz was full of brown stuff last friday) and taking jab now "maybe"!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/03/14/astrazeneca-covid-vaccines-blood-clot-concerns/

1 hour ago, Lingba said:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/03/14/astrazeneca-covid-vaccines-blood-clot-concerns/

Second point on the 'Key Facts' section:

Quote

In a statement, the nation's deputy chief medical officer said it has not concluded that there is "any link" between the vaccine and the cases, but that the decision to suspend its administration was made out of precaution and pending further information.

Also:

Quote

“More than 335 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally so far, and no deaths have been found to have been caused by COVID-19 vaccines,” WHO official Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday, echoing AstraZeneca's statement.

 

Now that Germany, Italy and France have joined the other snowflake nations it will be interesting to see what Tuesday brings.

The brave little soldiers badge will have 3 bars on it if the general can overcome his obvious fear ????

More and more countries have stopped using Astrazeneca so I think the PM is going to chicken out again tomorrow.

This is the latest list.

Indonesia, Austria, Ireland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, and The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and France.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14344557/astrazeneca-vaccine-suspended-which-countries-blood-clots/

 

6 minutes ago, EricTh said:

More and more countries have stopped using Astrazeneca so I think the PM is going to chicken out again tomorrow.

The knee-jerk reaction over this from Europe is staggering. Maybe they took Brexit harder than I thought. Worse still, it seems to be spreading to other countries outside Europe. Poor old AZ.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-news-that-germany-has-halted-vaccinations-with-the-oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine/

Quote

Dr Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton, said:

“The decisions by France, Germany and other countries look baffling. The data we have suggests that numbers of adverse events related to blood clots are the same (and possibly, in fact lower) in vaccinated groups compared to unvaccinated populations. The UK MHRA, WHO and also the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis* have recommended continuing the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine roll out.

“Halting a vaccine roll out during a pandemic has consequences. This results in delays in protecting people, and the potential for increased vaccine hesitancy, as a result of people who have seen the headlines and understandably become concerned. There are no signs yet of any data that really justify these decisions.”

 

2 minutes ago, DJBenz said:

The knee-jerk reaction over this from Europe is staggering. Maybe they took Brexit harder than I thought. Worse still, it seems to be spreading to other countries outside Europe.

 

Indonesia is outside Europe.. they just stopped using it today.

4 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Indonesia is outside Europe.. they just stopped using it today.

7 minutes ago, DJBenz said:

The knee-jerk reaction over this from Europe is staggering. Maybe they took Brexit harder than I thought. Worse still, it seems to be spreading to other countries outside Europe. Poor old AZ.

10 minutes ago, DJBenz said:

The knee-jerk reaction over this from Europe is staggering. Maybe they took Brexit harder than I thought. Worse still, it seems to be spreading to other countries outside Europe. Poor old AZ.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-news-that-germany-has-halted-vaccinations-with-the-oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine/

 

The limeys still seem to have some pain about the brexit, they keep going on about it while Europe has forgotten about it already.

5 hours ago, 2 is 1 said:

PM and hes friends chance diaper (coz was full of brown stuff last friday) and taking jab now "maybe"!

Shall we bet on it ? I think he's not going to take it. In bed with Corona or another mia noi.

There is bound to be coincidences with the vaccine.

Say a person had the shot at 1pm, and died of a heart attack at 5pm, but in reality would have had the attack anyway. but the vaccine would be blamed

I'm due to have my first jab on Wednesday, probably the AZ version. Naturally it's a little worrying that many countries are being more cautious than the UK.

Having said that, there is a statistical chance of X amount of people developing blood clots without a vaccine and it is yet to be determined whether there has been a noticeable increase in these conditions around the time of vaccination, or that the figures are historically the same and therefore maybe just a coincidence.

I'm on a prescription of aspirin (and other stuff) at the moment for a heart condition so hopefully that will help with any potential clots.

4 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

The limeys still seem to have some pain about the brexit, they keep going on about it while Europe has forgotten about it already.

Other way around, chap, hence eu jumping all over anything to do with UK. They are extremely butthurt and also upset the UK is doing so well with the vaccine. Political voting at it's worst (which will cost lives), sort of like the eurovision. Btw, watch your slurs or I'll either have to report you or may have to come down a notch and bring out the seppo. 

1 hour ago, daveAustin said:

Other way around, chap, hence eu jumping all over anything to do with UK. They are extremely butthurt and also upset the UK is doing so well with the vaccine. Political voting at it's worst (which will cost lives), sort of like the eurovision. Btw, watch your slurs or I'll either have to report you or may have to come down a notch and bring out the seppo. 

I realy wonder who is butthurt and upset ??????????????????

6 hours ago, DJBenz said:

The knee-jerk reaction over this from Europe is staggering. Maybe they took Brexit harder than I thought. Worse still, it seems to be spreading to other countries outside Europe. Poor old AZ.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-news-that-germany-has-halted-vaccinations-with-the-oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine/

 

Dude, please refrain from Brexit rhetoric.I understand this is a british product and, as for me, I couldn't care less, who makes the vaccine, as long it is efficient and safe.Even if it came from Nigel Farage privat laboratory, I would have take the jab.This comes from a proud EU citizen.

Now...Of course blood clots do occur, the thing is, that these cases follow a similar pattern.All cases, relatively young people and with no underlying health conditions, experience these highly unusual clinical symptoms and ALL of them, within 14 days(actually 10) of receiving the vaccine.

And, I just don't buy AZ's and WHO's explanation by comparising blood clots numbers in vaccinated population vs general.That does not prove anything.

There are, as I said, people, otherwise not in the risk population, who get blood clots, AFTER receiving the vaccine.

The Governments need to react and it does not have anything to do with Brexit.

 

LE.And, as far as I know, EU has invested plenty of funds in AZ vaccine...Why should EU turn back on its own investment?

PS.I got my first AZ shot on march 9th.

 

My daughter-in-law in the US developed several blood clots in her arm while  recovering from C-19.

Co-incidence or from covid ? For sure not any vaccine.

 

It's notable that governments worldwide keep browbeating people to "follow the science" on Covid, yet they suspend using the vaccine even though the WHO and the European Medicines Agency have said there is no reason to suspect it is not safe.

The chance of 33 clots per 5 million vaccinated is way to small to be purely vaccine related. The damage that can be caused if you contract the virus can be seriously devastating and far worse than anything you might imagine. The vaccine will protect against the following extreme possibility.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/mar/14/kate-garraway-reveals-horror-story-of-husband-derek-draper-long-covid-ordeal

11 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

The chance of 33 clots per 5 million vaccinated is way to small to be purely vaccine related. The damage that can be caused if you contract the virus can be seriously devastating and far worse than anything you might imagine. The vaccine will protect against the following extreme possibility.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/mar/14/kate-garraway-reveals-horror-story-of-husband-derek-draper-long-covid-ordeal

More like 33 in 17 million.  A lower percentage than what historically occurs in the general population.  A complete nothingburger.

10 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

The limeys still seem to have some pain about the brexit, they keep going on about it while Europe has forgotten about it already.

Bring me a couple of doses of the az. . Rather that than the chinese option. 

Given the opportunity of having a free vaccine, I would take neither ones, thanks but no thanks ????????‍♂️

There was never any doubt.  All world governments have handed safety testing over to the manufactures instead of having independent regulatory agencies providing independent testing and safety review.  So there was no doubt that AZ (or any other manufacturer) will state that their product has a perfectly squeaky clean safety record and is close to 100% effective. 
The actually figures will only come to light 5 years or more from now after independent academic institutions conduct epidemiological studies on the vaccines - well after the fact.
Before anyone tosses the label "anti-vaxxer' at me (I'm not), I do firmly believe that all vaccine testing should be conducted by independent testing agencies with absolutely no ties - academically or financially - to the manufacturer of the vaccine they are testing. 
But we don't live in that world any longer.  I find that problematic as well as dangerous.  Brave new (normal) world that it is.

11 hours ago, DJBenz said:

The knee-jerk reaction over this from Europe is staggering.

Or perhaps even government officials are waking up to the fact that the average vaccine development cycle is over 5 years long and included stringent testing requirements and independent test, review, and epidemiological study before being signed off for human use.

That model was tossed out the window this last year and probably will never be used again.

So the politicians who indemnified the manufacturers from any and all liability are now the only ones in the cross-hairs of public reaction if members of the public become sick or die after taking the jab. 

11 hours ago, Albert Zweistein said:

The limeys still seem to have some pain about the brexit, they keep going on about it while Europe has forgotten about it already.

in your dreams, they all know we made the right choice . now they are suffering ,just look at Merkals rating , they have dropped off a cliff. same with Macaroon .

The reality for this cabinet is that you can't give clots to clots.....