The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Friday maintained that based on information it has, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is generally safe and efficacious against the COVID-19 disease.
It however stressed that it won’t hesitate to take decisive actions should new data surface to prove that the vaccine is unsafe for Nigerians.
Stressing that the benefit of the vaccine outweighs the risks or side effects, it therefore urged people who have taken the vaccine to ensure they report any symptoms of vaccination if it exceeds 24 to 48 hours.
The National Incident Manager of the PTF on COVID-19, Dr Mukhtar Muhammed, who spoke for the PTF during an interview on Channels Television in Abuja, noted that he countries that have suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine due to incidences of blood clot, did it for precautionary measures, and not because the vaccination itself has been scientifically linked with the incident.
He said: “I think in the last 24 hours, we have received this disturbing news which for us is not really very much disturbing considering what is happening in some of the European countries where they have suspended or have stopped using Oxford-AstraZeneca for some reasons that are not yet confirmed.
“In all of these issues, it is to consider benefits versus the risk, and what they have noticed is that they have administered almost 5 million doses of this vaccine collectively in the European countries. Only 30 cases so far have reported this incidence of thromboembolic incidence.
“That is really very small compared to even the incidence of the disease itself. Even in unvaccinated populations, the incidence is higher in the general population that it is even in the vaccinated population. Therefore, that is not an established basis, and they are still investigating. They cannot conclusively say that the thromboembolic attacks are due to the effects of the vaccination.”
