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A vial with the AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is pictured at a hospital in Tbilisi, Georgia March 15, 2021. Picture taken March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze
Cyprus will resume vaccinations with the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, after the European Medicines Authority (EMA) ruled it was safe and effective, the island s Health Ministry said.
Authorities had suspended administering the jab on March 15 pending a review of the vaccine s safety by the European drugs regulator.
The EMA said on Thursday it was still convinced the benefits of AstraZeneca s vaccine outweighed the risks following an investigation into reports of blood disorders that prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend its use. read more
The patient whose thrombosis case is being investigated by the health authorities over a potential link to the COVID-19 vaccine was administered the AstraZeneca jab,
Times of Malta can confirm.
On Wednesday, the health ministry said it had been informed of a 58-year-old person who suffered thrombosis two weeks after receiving the first dose of the vaccine.
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The ministry has now confirmed the individual was administered the AstraZeneca vaccine but provided no additional details about the case. A spokesperson reiterated the individual is now in a stable condition and doing well .
Test results about another case detected earlier this month are still pending, with Health Minister Chris Fearne saying on Sunday the first of two sets of tests did not confirm a link between the vaccine and the thrombosis case.
The health authorities are looking into whether a thrombosis case in Malta is linked in any way to COVID vaccination.
In a statement late on Wednesday, the Health Ministry said it has been informed of a 58-year-old person who suffered thrombosis two weeks after receiving the first dose.
The ministry did not specify the brand of the administered vaccine.
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The person is in a stable condition, it reassured, adding that the Malta Medicines Authority is looking into the matter.
Earlier this month the European Medicines Authority said blood clots were a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca jab and the benefits outweighed the risks.
Case of thrombosis found in patient that took COVID-19 vaccine
The Malta Medicines Authority is investigating whether there is a link between the vaccine and this case of thrombosis
28 April 2021, 10:06pm
by Nicole Meilak
Health authorities are informed about a 58-year-old person suffering from thrombosis weeks after taking the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The person took a first dose of the vaccine 15 days ago. The case was reported to the Malta Medicines Authority to investigate whether there is any link between the two.
According to the Ministry for Health, the person is in stable condition.
Health authorities noted that the European Medicines Authority has continued to advise that the risks of the vaccine are rare and much lower than the risks associated with COVID-19.
Pfizer vaccine predominant in Maltaâs Covid-19 immunisation campaign
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The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine accounts for close to two-thirds of all the doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in Malta so far, with the AstraZeneca-Oxford University caccine accounting for most of the rest.
This state of affairs was confirmed by Health Minister Chris Fearne in reply to parliamentary questions by Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg.
By Saturday, Fearne confirmed, 197,908 doses of the Comirnaty vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer and 92,228 doses of the Vaxzervia vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca had been administered in Malta.
No information was sought or provided on the other Covid-19 vaccine approved by the European Medicines Authority â that developed by Moderna.