AMMAN, Jordan

Jordan on Thursday announced that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine proved to be successful to reduce COVID-19-related deaths, reporting no unusual side effect.

Nizar Mhaidat, the director-general of Jordan's Food and Drug Administration, said the AstraZeneca vaccine has also proven successful in reducing the number of cases admitted to hospitals.

The official said that the percentage recorded of blood clotting due to the use of the vaccine in other countries "did not exceed 0.0000015%, which is a very small percentage that does not require any measures to be taken to suspend its use."

The vaccine's use was briefly stopped in several European countries earlier this month due to fears over blood clots.

After a review by medical experts at the Brussels-based European Medicines Agency, most EU countries, including Germany, resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations on March 19.

"A total of 144,000 doses of AstraZeneca were given in Jordan and the foundation has not received any notification of any unexpected side effects," Mhaidat said.

He went on to say that "all reports received by the institution via the link for reporting side effects by citizens were among the expected and normal side effects."

On March 13, Jordan received 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as part of the global COVAX initiative.

As of Wednesday evening, Jordan recorded a total of 611,577 coronavirus cases, including 6,858 deaths and 513,144 recoveries.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat in Ankara.