(REUTERS): Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha became the first person to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the Southeast Asian country on Tuesday after a delay due to concerns over its safety.
Thailand’s premier and other cabinet members were initially due to get their vaccine shots on Friday, before Thailand suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports it could cause blood clots.
Thai’s health minister on Monday said the rollout would resume after many countries had said there were no blood clot issues with the vaccine. Thailand was the first country outside of Europe to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca shot.
Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands have halted their use of the vaccine over blood clotting issues, while Indonesia has decided to hold off until a World Health Organization (WHO) review.
Thailand has much riding on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy and the country will from June be one of its regional manufacturers. Thailand has reserved the first 61 million doses for its population.
AstraZeneca said on Sunday it had reviewed data from more than 17 million people vaccinated in the United Kingdom and European Union, which showed no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia.
