Mexico and Brazil do not intend to restrict access to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, after the UK drug regulator recommended it due to a potential risk of blood clots.
The statements come after the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recommended that the vaccine is only used in people over 30 years of age because of its possible link with rare blood clots.
The agency said it reviewed 79 reports of rare blood clots after the vaccine was administered, with 19 deaths. Eleven of the 19 who died were under the age of 50, while three were under the age of 30.
Cofepris, Mexico’s regulator of drugs, said it is still reviewing the recommendations. However, it does not intend to limit the use of AstraZeneca vaccines to any age or group, ”Reuters reportedMexico has received 3.5 million doses of the vaccine so far.
Meanwhile, Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risk and recommended that it continue to use it. The news outlet noted that Brazil has administered more than 4 million injections of the vaccine and recorded just 47 clotting events.
The UK recommendation came on the same day that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) safety panel concluded that a “possible linkBetween rare blood clots and the vaccine existed.
Concerns about blood clots in a small number of patients led more than a dozen countries to discontinue use of the vaccine last month. Oxford university interrupted a clinical trial testing the vaccine in 300 children aged 6 to 17 years while awaiting the advice of the MHRA on the reports of blood clotting.
AstraZeneca has maintained that her evidence has found no causal link between her vaccine and blood clotting.