Malta reports no adverse conditions reported from AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine

There were no adverse effects reported in Malta from a batch of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine which is currently being investigated in several countries about a possible link to blood clots.

In a statement, the Maltese Ministry of Health said that the Malta consignment of the ABV5300 batch was used up several weeks ago and no doses remain. The health authorities have not received any reports of reactions by the persons who received it.

The ministry said that while the health authorities would continue to closely follow the situation, there was no cause for alarm for anyone who had received the jab.

The European Medicines Agency said there was no evidence so far linking AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to illnesses in two people who received it in Austria, one of whom died 10 days after being inoculated.

The Austrian national health authority suspended the use of a batch of the vaccine (batch number ABV5300) after a person who was vaccinated was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis and later died, and another was hospitalised with pulmonary embolism.

“There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine,” the EMA said in its statement.

EMA said it understood the decision by Denmark and Norway was taken as a precaution.

Four other countries – Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia – have stopped inoculations from the batch while investigations continue, the EMA said.

In a seperate issue, the Italian health authorities have ordered the withdrawal of a batch of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine following the deaths of two men in Sicily who had recently been inoculated, a source close to the matter said on Thursday.

Italy’s medicines authority Aifa confirmed that it was halting the use of a batch of doses as a “precautionary” measure, adding that no link had been established between the vaccine and subsequent “serious adverse events”.

It did not specify what incidents it was referring to.

However, the source said health authorities moved following the deaths this month of Stefano Paterno, a 43-year-old navy officer, and Davide Villa, a 50-year-old policeman, who had both received shots from AstraZeneca’s ABV2856 batch.

Paterno died of a suspected heart attack on Tuesday, the day after his shot. Villa died at the weekend, some 12 days after his inoculation.

Local newspapers said he fell ill within 24 hours of his injection, and reported that doctors had diagnosed a deep vein thrombosis, which later resulted in a brain haemorrhage.