A health worker prepares a syringe with a dose of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at Bang Khun Thian Geriatric Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 21, 2021. REUTERS / Athit Perawongmetha
Thailand will continue to use China’s Sinovac Biotech (SVA.O) COVID-19 vaccine after six reports of unusual “stroke-like” side effects among recipients, government-appointed experts said Wednesday.
Six medical professionals in eastern Bangkok’s Rayong province who were inoculated earlier this month experienced symptoms similar to those of a stroke, the expert group said, including drowsiness and numbness in the eyes. limbs.
Since then, they have recovered after receiving stroke treatments and no blood clots were found.
The announcement comes amid a global focus on the levels of efficacy and possible side effects of different COVID-19 vaccines and temporary suspensions in some countries, including reports of blood clots among some recipients.
Sinovac did not immediately respond to a comment request message.
Thailand has received two million doses from Chinese company CoronaVac, which has already been administered to more than 600,000 people nationwide. He has ordered 1.5 million more shots that will arrive soon.
Experts could not say for sure what caused the symptoms, which they believed could be related to the nervous system and were not fatal, said Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit of Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital.
Brain scans of the six women showed normal results that did not suggest a stroke and no irregularities were found in the batch of vaccines from which the six doses originated, Kulkanya said.
Doses from the same batch were distributed in other provinces and more than 300,000 people may have already been shot, he added.
“The group agreed that we can continue to use this batch of vaccines because the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the temporary effects that can occur,” Kulkanya said.
These effects have not been previously reported in Thailand or other countries, he added.
The incidents would not change Thailand’s plan to start mass inoculations from June, said Taweesap Siraprapasiri of the Department of Disease Control.
“Side effects can be controlled and do not exceed what we can expect,” Taweesap said.
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