World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe assured the public that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, as there is no indication that severe cases of blood clots had been caused by the shot.
"There was some concern that there was a relationship between a few episodes of thromboembolic disease or blood clotting, which have been observed in some countries of Europe," Abeyasinghe said during the Laging Handa public briefing on Monday, March 22.
"But we are happy to state that the European Medical Association, after careful evaluation of all the data, has agreed with WHO’s position that there doesn’t seem a causal link with the AstraZeneca vaccine and the frequency of thromboembolic episodes that have been reported in the population," he pointed out.
Abeyasinghe noted that the number of thromboembolic episodes that has been reported in the vaccinated population was lower than the normal populations.
"There is no causal link established," he said.
Abeyasinghe said WHO is aware that there were about 40 cases of blood clotting in Europe after receiving AstraZeneca jabs but noted that the number is insignificant compared to the 50 million people worldwide that did not experience such effect.
"Our position is that there is no evidence that the vaccine is causing those episodes and that this vaccine outweighs the sporadic episodes," he added.