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When European drug regulators recognized the link between AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine and a rare type of blood clot, it spread another dose of skepticism across the continent. But in the poorer east, doubt is more about the findings than the shot.
Most Western members of the European Union have announced some restrictions on the use of the vaccine for younger age groups or discontinued it altogether. The opposite is happening across the east, with nine of the 11 countries in the region deciding to keep the shot to all adults.
“Let us not create unnecessary panic,” said Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov, citing the benefits of Astra medicine. “Let us not become part of the war between the different companies, because it is already visible.”
The former Eastern bloc houses almost a quarter of the EU’s 440 million inhabitants struggling to tame the pandemic. For these countries – what the world’s top 10 list of deaths per crown virus per capita – the restriction of a vaccine that is the key to their stock is unthinkable because they can not afford to delay the vaccination. Germany, by comparison, the number of daily vaccinations against Covid-19 doubled, while France reached a major milestone a week early.
Divided continent
Europe does not succeed in mapping the joint rate of Astra vaccine side effects
Source: Bloomberg
The world is counting on the Astra shot because of its price and ease of use, and it represents the most vaccines ordered by about a third of Eastern EU members. The vaccine is more easily transported and stored than the mRNA vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer-BioNTech, and the Anglo-Swedish company has promised to deliver as many as 3 billion shots on a non-profit basis by 2021.
Read more: AstraZeneca vaccine risks prolong pandemic
Hungary, which deviates from the EU-orchestrated procurement program and vaccines purchased directly from Russia and China also sought to express its support for Astra.
“The debate over the vaccination of AstraZeneca should be seen as a business dispute between drug manufacturers rather than valid opinions on medical risks,” Gergely Gulyas, the prime minister’s office, said on April 8.
A day earlier, EU and UK regulators said there was a possible link between the Astra shot and blood clots, although both have said that the benefits to most people outweigh the coronavirus. Britain, was she The vaccination program is much higher than the rest of the continent, and now recommends that those under thirty get another one.
A healthcare worker checks a patient’s health before administering the AstraZeneca vaccine at the mayor’s office in the village of Gardevtsi, Bulgaria.
Photographer: Nikolay Doychinov / AFP / Getty Images
In Bulgaria, the poorest and least vaccinated country in the EU, the more expensive vaccines have been used to vaccinate priority groups such as doctors and teachers. Astra is the most widely available to the general public.
The country’s vaccination effort was already deficient due to poor organization and a refusal rate of 37% among its 7 million citizens to be vaccinated, according to a poll by Exacta Research in March. Bulgaria will continue to apply the Astra shot to all age groups, but offer another slap in the face to women at high risk for thrombosis, in line with the EMA’s recommendations, the health minister said.
Leaders elsewhere have spoken out about their own vaccination with Astra, hoping to boost its credibility as citizens become uneasy about protracted lockouts and an ongoing series of records related to coronavirus and new infections.
In Croatia, among the countries that Astra has mainly commanded, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that he and other leaders had given the shot, stressing that “vaccine is safe and people should be vaccinated”.
Andrej Plenkovic received the AstraZeneca vaccine in Zagreb on March 24.
Source: AFP / Getty Images
In Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who at 43 would consider a more risky age category for the Astra shot in Western Europe, expressed disappointment with her coalition partner for postponing his vaccination. The government and parliament decided last month to get Astra shots for all its members. Meanwhile, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said this week that it is better to get any vaccine than to get the disease.
On Stjepan Oreskovic, professor of public health at the University of Zagreb, the rift between east and west over Astra exposed the shortcomings of the EU. The pandemic also exposed how the countries that joined the bloc since 2004 have done little to upgrade them. health care systems, plagued by a lack of funds and exodus of workers to Western Europe.
“It revealed the traditional distribution of power in the EU and showed that we still have the center and the periphery,” Oreskovic said. “In other words, the West and the East.”
– With the help of Milda Seputyte, Aaron Eglitis, Dorota Bartyzel, Piotr Skolimowski, Peter Laca, Andra Timu, Marton Eder, Zoe Schneeweiss and Fergal O’Brien