Chile temporarily suspends Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shots for people under 45

SANTIAGO - Chile temporarily suspended the application of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 in people under 45 years of age, after reporting an "adverse event" in a person immunized with the dose.

In a communique, the Ministry of Health said it was notified on June 1 that after receiving the vaccine, a 31-year-old man "presented thrombosis and thrombocytopenia, an event described in international literature as very rare".

As a result, the ministry decided that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should only be applied to people who are 45 years old or above.

The preventive and proactive measure will stay in place while the Public Health Institute (ISP) conducts a causality analysis investigation.

The ISP authorized the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Jan 27, after it was approved by its committee of experts.

To date, Chile has vaccinated more than 10.9 million people against COVID-19, with over 8.1 million having been fully immunized with both doses.