The EU’s medicines regulator on Tuesday urged countries to keep using the AstraZeneca vaccine and ruled out the reports of blood clots because of the vaccine, reports AFP. Over five European countries have suspended distribution of AstraZeneca despite new surges in infections. The suspensions have led to intense debate over whether it was prudent to put AstraZeneca inoculations on hold just as vaccination campaigns begin to gather pace in many countries.
On Thursday, experts at both the World Health Organisation and EU regulator EMA will publish conclusions of their meeting about the vaccine. According to reports, small numbers of people have developed blood clots, prompting countries, including the European Union’s three largest nations Germany, France and Italy, to suspend injections.
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“At present there is no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions,” EMA chief Emer Cooke told an online press conference, echoing the World Health Organisation and drugmaker AstraZeneca itself.
Cooke, noted, however that the regulator was “looking at adverse events associated with all vaccines. “Meanwhile deaths across the continent have topped 900,000, making it the worst-hit global region in absolute terms, according to an AFP tally from official figures. In Britain, which has administered more than 11 million AstraZeneca doses and where experts see no evidence of more frequent blood clots among the inoculated, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in the Times newspaper that the shot “is safe and works extremely well”. And Poland’s vaccination chief Michal Dworczyk charged that those suspending vaccination “have succumbed to the panic caused by media coverage of alleged complications”.
Also Read: Spain follows major European countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine
But French immunologist Alain Fischer, who heads a government vaccination advisory board, said a higher number than normal of pulmonary embolisms — blood clots in the lungs — had caused alarm at the weekend.
“There were a few very unusual and troubling cases which justify this pause and the analysis,” Fischer told France Inter radio. “It’s not lost time.” AstraZeneca’s shot, among the cheapest available, was billed as the vaccine of choice for poorer nations and the clot reports have had an impact beyond Europe.
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Indonesia delayed its AstraZeneca rollout on Monday, and Venezuela announced it would not authorise the jab over fears of “complications”.
In Ukraine, even medical staff were succumbing to doubts, which were already widespread among the public before the blood clot scare.
“Out of 40 people who initially wanted to be vaccinated, only 10 still do,” said Dr Yuriy Shylenko of his colleagues at a Kiev hospital. But in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged citizens to get the AstraZeneca shot after reports of hesitancy based on the suspensions.
And Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha was himself injected Tuesday as his country lifted its own AstraZeneca suspension. “I am an example today,” he said.