MANILA, Philippines – Local health authorities cannot merely rely on the findings of foreign counterparts on COVID-19 vaccine side effects, which may vary based on a person’s race.
Dr. Anna Lisa Ong Lim, who is part of the DOH Technical Advisory Group and infectious disease specialist said that reported cases blood clotting linked to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine usually occur only among Caucasians, which is why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must do its own monitoring of the vaccines.
“Kaya nga din gano’n na lang ‘yong trabaho ng ating Philippine FDA kasi minsan nabanggit ‘yan eh, ‘bakit na lang hindi natin tanggapin ‘yong rekomendasyon no’ng other regulatory authorities ng ibang bansa tutal meron naman silang capacity and expertise?’,” Lim said during the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday.
(This is also why our Philippine FDA has been working hard because there were questions before saying ‘why don’t we just accept the recommendations of other countries’ regulatory bodies since they have the capacity and the expertise?’)
“Ito na nga precisely ‘yong reason, kasi may mga effects na naka-confine sa particular ethnic population, so tulad na lang nitong observation na ‘to, it seems like marami sa caucasian population (ang may blood clotting). Sa ibang mga bansa, sa Asya na gumagamit ng bakunang ito, parang wala rin tayong naririnig,” she added.
(This is precisely the reason, because there are effects that are confined to a particular ethnic population, so like this observation, it seems like a lot of the incidents of blood clotting are within the Caucasian population. In Asian countries, we haven’t received reports of such a side effect, so far.)
Last April 3, it was revealed by British regulators that they have documented at least 30 cases of rare blood clotting events after patients were injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
This was backed up by the European Medical Agency which said that there is a direct link between the AstraZeneca vaccines and the blood clots.
The pronouncements prompted several countries to suspend the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine until after further studies.
In the Philippines, FDA recommended suspending the usage of AstraZeneca vials on people aged below 60.
Several countries eventually lifted the suspension after it was observed that the condition seemed to affect only a specific race.
In Chile, investigators testing the AstraZeneca vaccine found no trace of blood clots in 2,200 vaccinated individuals.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca insisted that there is no evidence between being administered the jabs and blood clots.