Indonesia pauses distribution of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine

Indonesia is temporarily halting the distribution of one batch of AstraZeneca vaccine to run tests for sterility and toxicity following reports of adverse effects after immunisations, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The batch consists of 448,480 vaccine doses that arrived in the Southeast Asian nation last month, part of a delivery of more than 3.85 million doses.

Some of the doses have been distributed in part of the capital, Jakarta, and the province of North Sulawesi, the ministry said in a statement.