MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday announced the official resumption of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine administration for all eligible populations in the Philippines.
The DOH previously suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines following the recommendation of the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to temporarily halt its use on persons below 60 years old after reports of “very rare” cases of Vaccine-Induced Thrombosis and Thrombocytopenia (VITT).
VITT is a very rare condition of blood clots associated with low platelet counts that can occur 4 to 28 days after receiving a viral vector vaccine such as AstraZeneca, the DOH said.
“After discussions with the DOH All Experts Group and the Philippine College of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine (PCHTM), it was concluded that there are currently no known risk factors for VITT and that the benefits of receiving the vaccine against COVID-19 still outweighs the risk,” the department said in a statement.
The DOH All Experts Group on Vaccines is composed of experts from the DOST Vaccine Expert Panel, Health Technology Assessment Council, Interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, NAEFIC, and DOH Technical Advisory Group for COVID-19.
The DOH, however, said that specific guidelines and measures will still be enforced to mitigate the risks of vaccination.
Updated guidelines on the management of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) particularly for VITT1 were also subsequently released by the PCHTM.
“Based on the guidelines, all vaccination sites should have strengthened post-vaccination surveillance to spot possible AEFI. Further, all healthcare workers (HCWs) in vaccination sites will be trained to detect and manage possible symptoms of VITT and refer them accordingly to the appropriate health facility for definitive workup and management,” the DOH said.
To date, the National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee and the FDA have not detected any local VITT events.
The DOH said that the resumption and issuance of the guidelines are timely as 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to arrive in the country this month.
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