Brazil regulator urges use of Covidshield jab to continue

BRASILIA. KAZINFORM - Brazil’s national sanitary regulator Anvisa has recommended the use of vaccine Covishield in Brazilians to continue. The inoculation is developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with Oxford University. In an updated statement on the monitoring of adverse events linked to the use of the vaccine, Anvisa concludes that «the data do not indicate any change in the benefit–risk balance of the vaccine,»Agencia Brasil reports.

The conclusion was further confirmed at a meeting between Anvisa and regulators from a number of countries and the Brazilian Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery. «In the national bases listing the events occurred with vaccines no register of embolism and thrombosis is found in connection with the vaccines against COVID-19 as a cause,» the statement reads.

Recently, some countries in Europe decided to halt the use of the vaccine due to vascular issues in patients. According to the European Medicines Agency, cases of multiple thrombosis and pulmonary embolism were reported in two people in Austria and one fatal case of blood clot in Denmark. The agency stated that preliminary studies do not indicate that the cause of such reactions is the vaccine, adding that all reported cases are being reviewed.

In Brazil, Anvisa highlighted that the batch where suspensions in Europe started—ABV5300—is not used in Brazil, and the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses applied thus far comes from a shipment from India’s Serum Institute, which also produces the inoculation.

Today (Mar. 17), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), partner of AstraZeneca, is starting the delivery of the first batch of the vaccines manufactured in Brazil. A total of 3.8 million doses of Covishield are estimated be delivered by the end of March, and should be distributed by the Health Ministry.