The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked the Department of Health (DOH) to stop the use of AstraZeneca vaccines to people below 60 years old, FDA Director General Eric Domingo said Thursday, April 8.
The FDA made the recommendation following reports of people experiencing blood clotting with low platelet count after getting inoculated with the United Kingdom-made coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.
“We asked DOH na kung meron pa pong natitirang AstraZeneca vaccines siguro ay ‘wag muna nating gamitin sa mga people below 60 years old until we get clearer evidence and guidance from WHO tsaka sa atin pong mga experts (We asked DOH that if there are still AstraZeneca vaccines left, maybe we should not use them on people below 60 years old until we get clearer evidence and guidance from WHO and our experts),” Domingo said.
During a press briefing, the FDA chief noted that the country has already ran out of AstraZeneca vaccines, and the next batch of vaccines is expected to arrive in the country within a month.
“So that will give us time to study the evidence and to see kung magkakaroon po tayo ng panibagong guidance sa paggamit ng AstraZeneca vaccine (if we will have new guidance on the use of AstraZeneca vaccine),” he said.
After checking with the National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee, Domingo said no case of blood clotting and low platelet count was reported in the country.
The Philippines previously received 525,600 AstraZeneca vaccines from COVAX facility, which were already distributed in the different vaccination sites nationwide.