Portugal will resume use of AstraZeneca vaccine

Portuguese health authorities decided yesterday to resume the administration of AstraZeneca vaccines against Covid-19, three days after the announcement of a temporary suspension due to reports in several countries of cases of blood clots in vaccinated people.

“The vaccination plan has been paused with regard to the AstraZeneca vaccine and will be started again from Monday. We will resume the plan, speeding it up,” said the task force coordinator for the vaccination against Covid-19, Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, at a press conference attended by the president of Infarmed, Rui Ivo, and the general director of Health, Graça Freitas.

The decision was announced following the decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that the AstraZeneca vaccine “is safe and effective” and that it is not associated with cases of blood clots that have led to the suspension of its use in more than a dozen European countries.

Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/