Major European countries suspend AstraZeneca vaccine
Natasha Rudra
Updated Mar 16, 2021 – 5.01am,first published France, Germany and Italy have become the latest countries to suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
WHO urges countries not to panic over AstraZeneca vaccine
Reuters
The World Health Organisation’s director general said on Monday that systems meant to protect public health were working, as several countries suspended use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to investigate possible side-effects.
“This does not necessarily mean these events are linked to COVID-19 vaccination, but it’s routine practice to investigate them, and it shows that the surveillance system works and that effective controls are in place,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual media briefing.
A WHO advisory committee plans to meet on Tuesday to discuss the vaccine, which Germany, France and Italy said on Monday they were pausing after several countries reported serious conditions in people who had received the shot.
Denmark and Norway had stopped giving the shot last week after reporting isolated cases of blood clots, bleeding or a low platelet count. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit and Ireland and the Netherlands announced suspensions on Sunday.
Even so, the top WHO scientist reiterated on Monday that there had been no documented deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccines.
“We do not want people to panic,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told the briefing, adding that no association had so far been found between the “thromboembolic events” reported in some countries and COVID-19 shots.
Spain will stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for at least 15 days, Cadena Ser radio reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.
Health Minister Carolina Darias was due to provide an update later on Monday, as a growing list of countries stop administering the shot amid concerns of severe side effects.
The Health Ministry declined to comment.
US reviews AstraZeneca vaccine
Long-awaited results from AstraZeneca’s 30,000-person US COVID-19 vaccine trial are currently being reviewed by independent monitors to determine whether the shot is safe and effective, a top US official said on Monday.
If the data are positive and all goes well, said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, the US Food and Drug Administration could complete its reviews and issue an emergency use authorisation in about a month, adding one more vaccine to the US arsenal.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, has been authorised for use in the European Union and many countries but not yet by US regulators.
Several EU countries have halted administering the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports from Denmark and Norway of possible serious side-effects, including bleeding and blood clots.
Asked about those issues, Collins said he has not personally seen the data but has been “pretty reassured” by statements by European regulators that the problems could be occurring by chance, and are not related to the vaccine.
A World Health Organisation expert advisory committee is currently looking into the matter.
France joins the list
France will stop administering AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine pending an assessment by the European Union’s medicine regulator due on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
Macron said the EMA regulator was expected to give guidance on Tuesday afternoon after a number of countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca shot.
“The decision which has been taken out of precaution is to suspend vaccinating with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the hope that we can resume quickly if the EMA gives the green light,” Macron told a press conference with Spain’s prime minister.
“We are therefore suspending its use until tomorrow afternoon.“
Italy becomes latest nation to suspend AstraZeneca vaccine
Italy on Monday suspended the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, making it the latest European country to put the product on hold following reports of recipients falling ill.
The announcement came shortly after Germany took the same step, and followed the seizure of hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine by Italian prosecutors in the northern region of Piedmont.
The Italian medicines authority AIFA said it was taking the decision as a “precautionary and temporary measure” pending rulings by the European Medicines Agency.
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Germany suspends AstraZeneca vaccine
The German government said Monday that it’s suspending the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine over new reports of dangerous blood clots in connection with the shot.
The Health Ministry said the decision was taken as a “precaution” and on the advice of Germany’s national vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for further investigation of the cases.
In a statement, the ministry said the European Medicines Agency would decide “whether and how the new information will affect the authorization of the vaccine.”
In its statement, the health ministry said the reported blood clots involved cerebral veins, but didn’t specify where or when the incidents occurred. Several other European countries have temporarily halted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days to investigate cases of blood clots that occurred after vaccination.
AstraZeneca has said there is no cause for concern with its vaccine and that there were fewer reported thrombosis cases in those who received the shot than in the general population.
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