FIJI will continue to take the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine, says Health Minister Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete.
He made the comment in response to reports that Australian authorities have advised people under the age of 50 to take Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine rather than AstraZeneca’s shot because of the possibility of links to rare cases of blood clots.
This newspaper asked Dr Waqainabete if Fiji would look at the protocols of countries such as the United Kingdom and Philippines.
In the UK, those under the age of 30 were offered the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech jabs. The Philippines has suspended AstraZeneca shots for people under 60.
Dr Waqainabete said he was aware of the reports about the risks surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“We are guided by WHO guidance and if you look at the website it shows there have been 200 million people that have had vaccination,” he said.
Head of Fiji’s COVID-19 vaccine taskforce Dr Rachel Devi said the taskforce had met and decided to continue rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“We’ve had our taskforce meeting and we’ve decided to continue to stand with the age of 18 years and above because, like we said, the risk is one in a million, one in a hundred thousand and we haven’t seen that until today,” she said.
“So through the taskforce meeting we’ve stood by the 18 years and above priority groups with AstraZeneca.”
