Indonesia pauses distribution of a batch of AstraZeneca's vaccine

This article is more than 12 months old

May 17, 2021 06:00 am

JAKARTA: Indonesia has suspended distribution of a batch of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to run tests for sterility and toxicity following the death of a 22-year-old man a day after immunisation, the Health Ministry said yesterday.

The batch consists of 448,480 vaccine doses that arrived last month - part of a delivery of more than 3.85 million doses from the Covax Facility, backed by the World Health Organisation.

Some of the doses have been distributed in Jakarta and the province of North Sulawesi, as well as given to the military.

Health Ministry spokesman Siti Nadia Tarmizi said: "This is a form of caution by the government to ensure the safety of this vaccine."

She added that distribution of other batches of AstraZeneca vaccines will not be affected. - REUTERS