KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is currently mulling over the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) report of rare blood clots as a possible side effect of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

Khairy added that the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) will take yesterday’s announcement into consideration to decide if Malaysia will administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to its citizens as planned.

"We take note of EMA’s announcement on the AstraZeneca vaccine. @JKJAVMY will deliberate on the matter and decide if we will go ahead with using AZ in our portfolio of vaccines.

"Safety is paramount,” Khairy commented on an EMA tweet earlier today.

The EMA tweet has quoted its executive director Emer Cooke as saying that an in-depth analysis flagged "unusual” blood clots as a possible side effect of the AstraZeneca jab.

"The #PRAC, after an in-depth analysis, has concluded that the reported cases of unusual blood clots following vaccination with AstraZeneca #COVID19vaccine should be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine,” EMA tweeted.

Yesterday, it was reported that Malaysia will decide whether to proceed with using the AstraZeneca vaccine for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme after release of the EMA’s findings on the vaccine.

Khairy said the report by the European Union agency will determine whether there is a causal link between the use of the vaccine and thrombosis or blood clots.

Two days ago, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the government had decided to proceed with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

According to Dr Adham, this decision was made during the vaccine committee meeting based on clinical data which proved the benefits outweighed the harm.

On Sunday, Khairy said Malaysia is scheduled to start receiving deliveries of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in May, which involved the procurement of 6.4 million doses for 3.2 million people.