The government on Monday said it identified 26 potential cases of bleeding and blood clotting in India due to the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine in India.
Serum Institute of India is producing Covishield vaccine in India in partnership with AstraZeneca.
The Union Health Ministry said in a statement on Monday that over 23,000 adverse events have been reported since the vaccination drive involving Covishield and Covaxin vaccines started in the country and of these 700 cases were reported to be serious.
The ministry is separately issuing advisories to healthcare workers and vaccine beneficiaries to encourage people to be aware of suspected thromboembolic symptoms occurring within 20 days after receiving any COVID-19 vaccine (particularly Covishield) and report preferably to the health facility where the vaccine was administered.
The symptoms listed are breathlessness, pain in chest, pain in limbs/pain on pressing limbs or swelling in limbs (arm or calf), multiple, pinhead size red spots or bruising of skin in an area beyond the injection site, persistent abdominal pain with or without vomiting, seizures in the absence of the previous history of seizures with or without vomiting, severe and persistent headache with or without vomiting (in the absence of the previous history of migraine or chronic headache).
The symptoms also include weakness or paralysis of limbs or any particular side or part of the body (including face), persistent vomiting without any obvious reason, blurred vision or pain in eyes or having double vision, change in mental status or having confusion or depression level of consciousness or any other symptom or health condition which is of concern to the recipient or the family.
The ministry said that Covishield continues to have a definite positive benefit-risk profile with tremendous potential to prevent infections and reduce deaths due to COVID-19 across the world and in India.
Over 13.4 crore doses of Covishield vaccine have been administered as of 27 April in India.
The ministry is continuously monitoring the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines and is promoting reporting of suspected adverse events.