German leader Angela Merkel says ‘would take AstraZeneca vaccine’

In a bid to reinstate confidence in the vaccine, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday she was ready to be inoculated with AstraZeneca’s coronavirus jab if offered.

“Yes I would take the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Merkel told a news conference, adding she “would like to wait until it’s my turn but I would in any case”.

Merkel’s firm endorsement of the vaccine came after Europe’s medicines regulator EMA on Thursday cleared it for use after a review of the clotting cases, saying the vaccine was “safe and effective”.

ALSO READ | France, Spain, Germany to resume use of AstraZeneca vaccine

The use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was suspended for several days this week by major European countries, including Germany, over fears that it may cause blood clots.

However, questions surrounding the jab jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have yet again been revived after France on Friday recommended it should be given only to people aged 55 and over because of the clotting risks.

Germany on Friday resumed use of the Anglo-Swedish company’s jabs and politicians were at pains to assure the population of the vaccine’s safety.

Winfried Kretschmann, state premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg, had an AstraZeneca jab live on television.

“Have trust, get vaccinated,” he said in an appeal to the population.

AstraZeneca has faced a series of setbacks since it was approved for use in the European Union.

Besides delivery delays that angered the bloc, Germany had in the initial weeks of its use limited it to people under 65-years-old because of insufficient efficacy data for older people.

Critics had complained that the decision to halt the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine over the recent days only served to fuel more mistrust over vaccination and further delay Germany’s already sluggish inoculation programme.

Germany is battling to ramp up its vaccination campaign as health authorities of the EU’s biggest country warn that coronavirus virus numbers are rising at a “very clearly exponential rate”.

“It is very possible that we will have a similar situation over Easter to the one we had before Christmas, with very high case numbers, many severe cases and deaths, and hospitals that are overwhelmed,” Lars Schaade, vice president of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, told reporters.

The institute on Friday reported 17,482 new infections in the previous 24 hours and 226 deaths in Germany, with the seven-day incidence rate soaring to 96 per 100,000 people despite a months-long shutdown of large swaths of public life.

ALSO READ | UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson gets first AstraZeneca vaccine jab

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Friday too sought to reassure Italians over the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, saying he would have it himself.

“I have not yet made a booking, but my age group is among those who are allowed to have the vaccine and yes, I will have the AstraZeneca,” the 73-year-old told a news conference, the day after the EU medicines agency gave the jab the green light.

“My son had it the day before yesterday in England,” he added.