AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects: India To Conduct Deeper Review After Suspension Of Use By Some Nations

India is set to conduct a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford next week, reports Economic Times.

The development comes at a time when several nations like Denmark, Norway and Iceland have suspended the use of the said vaccine over isolated reports of recipients developing blood clots after the vaccine administration.

It should be noted though the World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that there was no reason for nations to stop the use of the said vaccine.

NK Arora, a member of India's national task force on COVID-19 has said, "We are looking at all the adverse events, particularly serious adverse events like deaths and hospitalisation. We will come back if we find anything of concern."

Arora has also stated that there is "no immediate issue of concern as the number of adverse events (in India) is very, very low." He added, "We are relooking to see if there was any issue of blood clotting."

It should be noted that India has already administered at least 28 million doses under its nationwide inoculation campaign, most of which have been AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India.