Chile temporarily halts Oxford-AstraZeneca vax for people under 45

Santiago, June 4 Chile has temporarily suspended the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 for people under 45 years of age, after an "adverse event" was reported in a person immunised with the jab.

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

As a result, the Ministry decided that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should only be administered 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 authorised the emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on Januar 27, after it was approved by its committee of experts.

To date, Chile has vaccinated 10,928,685 people against Covid, with 8,180,288 having completed both doses.

Also on Thursday, Deputy Health Minister Paula Daza announced that lockdown measures will be further extended in 16 cities, including the capital Santiago, due to an increase in confirmed cases.

Of the total number of cities that will enter into lockdown starting on Saturday, five are in the country's Metropolitan region, including Santiago.

A total of 8,150 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours, increasing the overall infection tally to 1,403,101.

In the same period, 213 more people died of Covid-19, raising the death toll to 29,598.