By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, May 4: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Saturday asked people not to worry about the side effects of Covid 19 vaccines, stating that nothing of that sort has been reported in the state.
The statement followed the admission by British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnological company AstraZeneca in court papers that its Covid vaccine Covishield can cause rare side effects.
A majority of the people in Meghalaya were administered Covishield when the state was battling the pandemic.
Lyngdoh told The Shillong Times that the limited research done on the matter indicated that 7 in 1 million people have had side effects.
“Statistically, that’s the data available. The Union government is likely to conduct further research. We will await that,” she said.
Stating that Meghalaya will take guidance from the Ministry of Health, she said given the data and as per public health experts, there has been a huge positive impact of Covid vaccination in saving lives.
“Like every vaccine that has some rare cases of AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunisation), the cases reported with clots might fall under this category. There are no AEFI cases reported in Meghalaya and hence, we should not worry about it,” the Health minister said.