A health worker checks the temperature of a passenger, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease , at a railway station in Mumbai, India, March 17, 2021. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasNEW DELHI: India said on Wednesday its coronavirus immunisation campaign would continue with"full rigour" despite some concerns in Europe about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine it relies heavily upon as infections hit a three month high.
The European Medicines Agency is investigating reports of 30 cases of unusual blood disorders out of 5 million recipients of the vaccine in the region.Since starting the drive in mid-January, India has administered 36 million vaccine doses, which are mostly the AstraZeneca shots developed with Oxford University and locally known as Covishield.
"We have no signal of concern in this regard," Vinod Kumar Paul, who heads a government committee on vaccines, told a news conference, adding that experts in India had looked into the issue.The World Health Organization has said it is assessing whether medical events such as blood clots are related to the vaccination and urged anyone offered a vaccine to take one. AstraZeneca has said a review of safety data has shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.
Paul said as infections had risen in the country since early February, hitting a three-month high on Wednesday, the government was looking at accelerating the vaccination drive that also uses a homegrown shot created by Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research. The federal health ministry has so far distributed to states 75.4 million vaccine doses, less than half of which have been given to frontline workers, the elderly and people above 45 with health conditions.
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