The Health Authorities noted reports from Austria on the suspension of the use of a particular consignment of Astrazeneca, and requested the direction of the Malta Medicines Authority on the use of this vaccine.
The Medicines Authority has recommended that the Astrazeneca vaccination program be continued as planned. This is in view of the fact that the European Medicines Authority has stated that there is no indication that the vaccine was the cause of the health complications reported in Austria, also because the reported health complications are not listed as side effects of the vaccine.
As a matter of fact, the particular consignment referred to was used in our country a number of weeks ago. While there are no more vaccines of this batch to be used in our country, the Health Authorities have not received any report of reactions from these people who have been vaccinated by the batch in question.
While the Health Authorities are closely monitoring the situation, they stress that there is no room for alarm for patients who have received the vaccine from this consignment.
