AMMAN — Jordan has so far given 144,000 AstraZeneca
vaccine jabs and recorded no cases of clotting, Minister of Health Feras Al-Hawari
and the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) said on Thursday.
اضافة اعلان
“None of the inoculated residents who received Astrazeneca
reported any unexpected side effects,” JFDA Director General Nizar Mheidat
said.
In a statement to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Mheidat
said that the vaccine has proven successful in reducing hospitalization and
death from COVID-19 complications.
The administration
noted that the occurrence of blood clots in recipients of the AstraZeneca shot
does not exceed 0.0000015 percent, which is a miniscule rate that does not require precautionary
suspension of the vaccine, noting that it continues to be administered for
inoculation in several countries, including the UK, Australia, Italy, France,
Spain and Portugal.
For his part, the minister stressed that there is no
evidence justifying concern over the vaccine, noting that the government is
working on securing a number of vaccines, “all of which are safe, with mild
side effects.”
Europe's medicines regulator on Wednesday reiterated its backing
of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, saying no particular group of age, sex or a
previous medical history was especially susceptible to blood clotting after
receiving the shot, according to Reuters.
It spoke after several countries including Canada, Germany,
France and Spain limited use of the drugmaker's shot, after reports of a rare
clotting condition following vaccination, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Hawari noted that COVID-19 infection number are
finally taking a downturn, with the rate of positive tests dropping to 16
percent for the first time since the beginning of the second wave.
“These indicators call for further patience and compliance,
and prove that the taken measures are paying off,” Hawari added.
To reach a “safe summer”, the COVID test positivity rate
must drop to below 5 percent, according to the minister.
Regarding the generation of oxygen at hospitals, Hawari said
“it is easy, but it needs more time, and we are working on it, but it will not
happen overnight.”
He noted that healthcare workers were extremely
overstretched during the pandemic, and warned that hospitals are nearing their
maximum occupancy rates.
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