INDONESIA did temporarily stop the distribution of one batch AstraZeneca vaccine namely CTMAV547. This was done in an effort to ensure the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine in relation to the reported AEFIs.
The reason is, there was a post-vaccination incident that caused two people to die. Both are known to have received the AstraZenca brand vaccine.
A specialist in pulmonology and respiration medicine (lung), RSUP Persahabatan, Dr. dr. Erlina Burhan, said that all drugs including the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca can cause side effects, although not everyone experiences them.
These side effects are very common or may appear in more than 1 in 10 people such as pain, tenderness, warmth or itching at the injection site, feeling unwell, feeling tired, chills or feeling like fever, headache, nausea and muscle joint pain.
There are also complaints of swelling or redness at the injection site, fever, vomiting or diarrhea, leg and arm pain and flu-like symptoms such as fever, sore throat, runny nose, cough and chills.
This complaint, according to Erlina, is common or may appear in 1 in 10 people. To overcome this, drugs containing paracetamol can be used to treat side effects such as pain and / or fever.
“If a severe AEFI (Post-Immunization Follow-up Event) is stopped, it does not mean it will stop forever. This is procedural in nature and is done for all things, not only vaccines but also drugs. The side effects of vaccines are the same, mild to moderate,” he said.
Severe or unusual cases after being vaccinated with AstraZeneca refer to symptoms such as dizziness, abdominal pain, enlarged lymph nodes near the injection site, excessive sweating, itchy skin, rashes and severe swelling of the lips, mouth and throat (which may cause difficulty swallowing or breathing).
“There is also a very rare blood clot accompanied by a decrease in platelets (thrombocytopenia), the case is very low, only 4 cases in 1 million people,” said Erlina.
Then, to prevent cases of blood clots that are reported to be experienced by 4 people out of 1 million people, Erlina recommends that people with blood clotting problems, taking blood thinners, disorders such as thrombosis or blockages, get checked out first before being vaccinated.
He said that this recommendation put forward the principle of prudence. In the UK, where the AstraZeneca vaccine is produced, when there are serious cases of AEFI, vaccination is stopped until there is evidence of a connection with the vaccine or not. Once the report showed no association, vaccination was again carried out.
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