SYDNEY: Australia on Friday (March 19) welcomed the decision of the European drug regulator to support the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine following a safety inspection while authorities ramped up the country’s vaccination campaign next week.
Germany, France and other European countries decided to restart using doses of AstraZeneca on Thursday following the European Medicines Agency’s findings that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.
More than a dozen European countries had temporarily suspended their immunization campaign after reports of rare blood clots in some people received the doses.
“I think this is a very important piece of global medical news. What we are seeing is that the European Medicines Agency has made the same decisions as Australia (regulator). medicines) … is good news, “Health Minister Greg Hunt told Sky News.
NOTE: The Danish pharmaceutical group had 10 reports of blood clots following the AstraZeneca COVID-19 burn
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Australia did not suspend vaccination across the country with the AstraZeneca vaccine despite a discontinuation in Europe, saying there was no evidence that the doses caused any side effects.
Most of Australia’s 25 million people will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. Authorities have received nearly 54 million doses, with 50 million to be delivered locally since the end of March.
Australia will move from Monday to the second phase of its vaccination program where nearly six million people will see the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine over the next few weeks.
Around a quarter of a million people have received their first dose of vaccine on Friday.
Australia has been reporting zero or low numbers for the past few weeks. New South Wales, the most populous state in the country, did not report new cases received locally for the second straight day.
Australia has reported more than 29,100 cases and 909 deaths since the outbreak began.
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