Green light for AstraZeneca vaccine supplied through Covax

However, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin later said the rollout would continue as planned as AstraZeneca said it had yet to find data linking the vaccine to reports of blood clots, which had resulted in several deaths.

"Given how consist of the clinical features are in this case, with some similar cases which have been seen overseas, it is likely that this case, which is reported, is related to the vaccine", he said.

"This condition has presented as either a clot appearing in the brain or as thrombosis in other sites, including in the intra-abdominal venous systems", he said.

Professor Kidd said he wanted to reassure Australians the risk of contracting COVID-19 was "far greater" than contracting the "very small potential risk" of a rare blood clotting disorder as a side effect.

Vials of AstraZeneca's Covishield vaccine for Covid-19 are seen at a filling lab at the Serum Institute of India, Pune.

The man received his vaccine dose on March 22.

Malaysia has agreed to purchase 66.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from various drug makers and plans to vaccinate at least 80% of the population by February next year.

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The most concerning symptom would be severe anaphylaxis, which is why people are monitored for about 15 minutes after receiving the vaccination - and longer if they have a past history of serious allergic reactions to vaccines.

"Before we start linking the dots, we just need to put this into perspective that this is a very rare event and it's likely not to do with AstraZeneca", she said.

He said people should be particularly alert to severe and persistent headaches that occu between four and 20 days after the vaccination, which "are different to your usual pattern of headaches" and do not settle with paracetomol or other over-the-counter painkillers.

Seven people in the United Kingdom have died from unusual blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab.

The European Medicines Agency is expected to update its recommendation on this issue on April 7.

In early March, the Government announced it had secured an extra 8.5 million doses of Pfizer's Covid vaccine, bringing the total number of doses to 10m - enough for every New Zealander.

"That's still up in the air", said Fauci when asked whether the US will use the AstraZeneca vaccine doses.