Germany, Italy, France shoot AstraZeneca amid fears of security, disrupting EU vaccinations

BERLIN / GENEVA (Reuters) – Germany, France and Italy said on Monday they would suspend AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots after several countries reported possible serious side effects, but the World Health Organization

(WHO) said there is no proven link and people should not panic.

The decision by the three largest countries in the European Union to jeopardize vaccinations with the AstraZeneca has disrupted the already struggling vaccination campaign in the EU of 27 countries.

Denmark and Norway stopped giving the shot last week after reporting isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit and Ireland and the Netherlands announced suspensions on Sunday.

Spain will stop using the vaccine for at least 15 days, reports Cadena Ser radio, citing unnamed sources.

The WHO’s top scientist reiterated on Monday that there were no documented deaths related to COVID-19 vaccines.

“We do not want people to panic,” Soumya Swaminathan said at a virtual media conference, adding that so far there has been no link between the so-called ‘thromboembolic events’ reported in some countries and COVID. 19 shots.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said an advisory committee meeting on AstraZeneca would be held on Tuesday. EU drug regulator EMA will also meet this week to assess whether the information gathered has contributed to the AstraZeneca shot contributing to thromboembolic events in those vaccinated.

Some of Europe’s largest and most populous countries will exacerbate concerns about the slow explosion of vaccines in the region, which is plagued by shortages due to problems with vaccine production, including AstraZeneca.

Germany warned last week that it was facing a third wave of infections, Italy was closing locks and hospitals in the Paris region were almost overloaded.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that although the risk of blood clots was low, it could not be ruled out.

“It’s a professional decision, not a political decision,” Spahn said, adding that he followed a recommendation from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the German vaccine regulator.

France has said the use of the vaccine is suspended pending a review by the EMA.

“The decision taken, in line with our European policy, is to suspend vaccination with the AZ shot out of precaution, in the hope that we can resume soon if the EMA’s leadership allows it,” the French president said. , Emmanuel Macron, said.

Italy said its strike was a “precautionary and temporary measure” pending the ruling of the EMA.

“The EMA will meet shortly to resolve any doubts so that the AstraZeneca vaccine can be safely resumed in the vaccination campaign as soon as possible,” said Gianni Rezza, Director-General of Prevention at the Italian Ministry of Health.

Austria and Spain have stopped using certain groups and prosecutors in the northern Italian region of Piedmont had earlier seized 393,600 doses after the death of a man hours after being vaccinated. It was the second region to do so to Sicily, where two people died shortly after being shot.

The WHO called on countries not to vaccinate against a disease that has caused more than 2.7 million deaths worldwide. WHO Director-General Tedros said systems exist to protect public health.

“This does not necessarily mean that these events are linked to COVID-19 vaccination, but it is common practice to investigate it, and it shows that the surveillance system is working and that effective controls are in place,” he said.

The UK has said it has no concerns, while Poland believes the benefits outweigh any risks.

The EMA said that on March 10, a total of 30 cases of blood clots were reported among nearly 5 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot in the European Economic Area, which connects 30 European countries.

Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said the decisions of France, Germany and others seem staggering.

“The data we have indicates that the number of side effects associated with blood clots is the same (and possibly, in fact lower) in vaccinated groups compared to non-vaccinated population,” he said, adding that the strike of a vaccination program.

‘This leads to delays in the protection of people, and the possibility of increased hesitation against vaccines, due to people who saw the headlines and became understandable. There are still no signs of data that really justify these decisions. ”

The director of Italian medicine, Aifa,’s general director, Nicola Magrini, said several European countries preferred to suspend the vaccine “in the presence of very recent and very few cases of adverse events” in women and young people.

“… Those who have already had the vaccine can and should stay safe,” she told a radio station. “I feel like I want to say that the vaccine is safe, even though I have checked all the data.”

‘UNUSUAL’ symptoms

The AstraZeneca survey was one of the first and cheapest developed and launched on volume since the coronavirus was first identified in central China at the end of 2019 and is the mainstay of vaccination programs in many of the developing countries.

Thailand on Monday announced plans to continue firing on the Anglo-Swedish firm after suspending use on Friday, but Indonesia said it would wait until the WHO reported.

The WHO said its advisory panel was reviewing reports on the shot and publishing its findings as soon as possible. But he said it was unlikely that his recommendations, issued last month, would change for widespread use, even in countries where the South African variant of the virus could reduce its effectiveness.

The EMA also said that there was no indication that the events were caused by the vaccination and that the number of reported blood clots was not higher than what was seen in the general population.

The handful of side effects reported in Europe have upset the vaccination programs that are stumbling in some countries.

The Netherlands said on Monday that it had seen ten cases of possible significant side effects from the AstraZeneca shot, hours after its vaccination program was suspended following reports of possible side effects in other countries.

Denmark reported ‘highly unusual’ symptoms in a 60-year-old citizen who died of a blood clot after receiving the vaccine. This is the same phrase that Norway used on Saturday about about three people under the age of 50 who were treated in hospital.

“It was an unusual course of the disease that caused the Danish Medicines Agency to respond,” the agency said in a statement late Sunday.

One of the three health workers hospitalized in Norway after receiving the AstraZeneca shot was killed, health authorities said Monday, but there is no evidence that the vaccine was the cause.

AstraZeneca earlier said it had conducted a survey of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the EU and the UK, which showed no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

Long-awaited results from AstraZeneca’s U.S. vaccine test of 30,000 people are now being reviewed by independent monitors to determine if the shot is safe and effective, a U.S. official said Monday.