MANILA: 08, APRIL, 2021: Philippine health authorities on Thursday temporarily halted the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for people below 60 years of age to probe reports of blood clots coming from overseas. 

In a statement, Food and Drug Administration chief Rolando Enrique Domingo said, the briefly suspension came after the European Medicines Agency recommended to include blood clots as a rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

There were no reports of such adverse side effects in the country, he added.

"This temporary suspension does not mean that the vaccine is unsafe or ineffective — it just means that we are taking precautionary measures to ensure the safety of every Filipino," Domingo said. 

Sources said, the country has so far got 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, another 2.6 million doses, purchased by the private sector, will be delivered in May. 

The Philippines started its vaccination program on March 1, with health care providers. 

The country has so far administered nearly 923,000 doses of China's Sinovac Biotech and AstraZeneca vaccines, part of its goal of administering 70 million of its 108 million population current year. 

The number of people infected with corona in Philippines surged 828,366 and the total number of deaths has reached 14,119.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has crossed 133 million (133,698,881), according to John Hopkins and AFP tally while the deadly virus claimed 2,901,132 lives worldwide so far and 107,828,880 patients have been recuperated. (04)