Southeast Asian nations go ahead with COVID-19 vaccination

The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson of the US and India's Bharat Biotech, it said on April 20.

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Both vaccines can be administered to people aged 18 and above in the Philippines, the agency chief, Rolando Enrique Domingo, said in a mobile text message.

So far, the Southeast Asian country has granted emergency use approval for six coronavirus vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson is conducting late-stage clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines.

Data from worldometers.info, the Philippines has confirmed more than 945,000 COVID-19 cases and 16,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

Meanwhile, the Brunei government has announced that the administration of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine can resume in the country after two weeks of reviewing adverse side effects.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, since the temporary pause on the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on April 6, it had reviewed reports from other countries of very rare cases of blood clots with low platelets following vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

In Brunei, among the 2,323 individuals who have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, no events of this nature have been identified, the health ministry said.

The health ministry said that based on available data, taking into account the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, especially to those at risk such as the elderly, and given that the reported incidence of blood clots with low platelets is very rare, the COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Committee believes that the administration of this vaccine can resume in Brunei with conditions.

Brunei reported no new coronavirus cases on April 19, with the national tally unchanged at 221.

Indonesia has extended the implementation of restrictions on micro-based community activities (PPKM) from April 20 to May 3.

The PPKM extends on five provinces, namely West Sumatra, Jambi, Bangka Belitung Islands, Lampung, and West Kalimantan, said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto on April 19.

The PPKM scheme was first applied in Indonesia on January 11 this year and has been extended several times.

Indonesia on April 18 received another six million doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine bulk from China, which is part of the supply of 140 million doses to be delivered this year./.

VNA