Infarmed announced this evening that it is investigating the quality of Janssen vaccines available at the Covid-19 Vaccination Center in Mafra after patients died after receiving the Janssen vaccine.
In a short statement sent to newsrooms, the National Authority for Medicine explained that the measures come “after cases of adverse reactions (fainting), which were notified of Janssen’s vaccine, at the Mafra vaccination centre.”
According to that health authority, “So far, no suspicion of a defect in the quality of this batch has been reported in other vaccination centers where it is used.”
And he added, “Infarmed decided to start the process of checking the quality of the remaining vaccine units at this vaccination site, as well as suspending this batch until the necessary investigations are completed.”
The latest official figures indicate that more than 42% of Portuguese have completed the vaccination and 60% have already taken at least one dose. This week alone, more than a million doses have been administered, the highest since the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed at least 4,053,041 people worldwide, among more than 187.7 million cases of the novel coronavirus, according to AFP’s latest balance sheet.
In Portugal, since the beginning of the epidemic, in March 2020, 17,182 people died and 916,559 cases of infection were recorded, according to the Directorate General of Health.
The respiratory disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which was discovered in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China, and currently with variants identified in countries such as the United Kingdom, India, South Africa, Brazil and Peru.
Emily Brontë is a journalist and feature writer specialising in culture, entertainment, literature, and current affairs. She is dedicated to producing clear, accurate reporting that helps readers stay informed about developments in the UK and around the world.
