Pharmacy Daily | COVAX AEFI reports declining: TGA

INCIDENTS of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) with COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX) declined in the week ending 23 May, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reveals.

Data released yesterday found 1,609 AEFI reports were made last week, down from 1,860 the previous week, with the reporting rate per 1,000 doses falling from 6.4 to 6.1, with more than 3.6 million doses administered across the country.

The AEFI rate has been declining in recent weeks from a high of 6.7 per 1,000 doses in the week ending 21 Apr.

As of 23 May, Victoria has recorded the highest AEFI rate, with 9.4 cases per 1,000 doses administered, followed by Tasmania, with 7.9 incidents.

NSW and Western Australia have recorded the lowest incident rate, with both jurisdictions reporting 4.2 cases per 1,000 jabs administered.

The TGA revealed an additional nine cases of blood clots with low blood platelets have been assessed as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The authorities noted that using the UK case definition, six were confirmed TTS, while the remaining three were classed as "probable".

The confirmed cases of TTS reported last week were linked to two women in NSW (aged 60 and 82 years), a 72-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman in WA, a 73-year-old woman from Victoria, and a 63-year-old Queensland man.

Probable cases of TTS were in an 85-year-old woman from NSW, a Victorian man aged 62 and a 73-year-old woman from Victoria.

In the period to 23 May, the TGA had received 210 reports of deaths following immunisation, 109 in patients who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 94 amongst people who had the AstraZeneca shot, with seven cases where the vaccine was not specified.

However, the latest TGA COVAX weekly safety report said, "apart from the single Australian case in which death was linked to TTS, COVAX have not been found to cause death".

Common AEFI reports related to headaches, muscle and joint pain, fever and injection site reactions.

Patients who received the AstraZeneca shot also reported chills and fatigue, while those who had the Pfizer-BioNtech shot noted lethargy as a common reaction.