Photo courtesy of Nalisa

With national COVID-19 immunisation efforts underway, a lot of us have become extremely anxious. Not just at waiting for our turn, but at the type of vaccine we’ll be getting and the side effects we’ll encounter.

Adding on to the restlessness is the removal of the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed through a partnership between the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University, from the national immunisation program. 

This is because it has been observed that blood clots developed in a very small number of people who had taken it in Europe, and in response to the public’s anxiety towards it, the Malaysian Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply removed it entirely from the programme. 

That being said, the figure of risk is very, very small, at only 0.0004 percent or 4-in-1-million chances, according to Malaysia’s health ministry. Furthermore, the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the number of risks. Not wanting to waste this highly effective vaccine, AstraZeneca was offered as a voluntary opt-in to the public within the Klang Valley. As many as 260,000 Malaysians signed up on the day appointments were offered through the official vaccine site.

Model Nalisa Alia Amin was one of the very early ones who got her first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine. She takes us through her experience here.