Spain, Germany, France and Italy launch AstraZeneca vaccine

“We have decided to suspend the use of AstraZeneca as a precautionary measure and hope to resume it as soon as the EMA’s advice allows,” French President Emmanuel Macron told the news conference.

The suspensions come hours after prosecutors in northern Italy ordered a group of vaccines to be seized, citing a man who fell ill and died after taking a shot. The Italian Medicines Agency also suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine ‘as a precautionary and temporary’ before the EMA meeting, the Italian Medicines Agency AIFA announced on Monday.

A large part of Europe has now stopped the shot for the time being, following the fate of one woman in Denmark who has not yet had to be linked to a vaccine. Another death was also reported in Norway on Monday, along with some non-fatal cases in both countries.

The suspensions run counter to the advice of the World Health Organization, the EMA and the pharmaceutical giant itself, which have all said there is no evidence of a link to clotting and that implementation should continue while the reports are being investigated.

“As of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine, and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and stop serious diseases from the virus,” the WHO told CNN in a statement. . The organization added that it was reviewing the latest reports, but said any change in its recommendations would be ‘unlikely’.

The EMA also reiterated that countries should continue with the implementation, adding that it would meet on Thursday to discuss the issues, but that the benefit of vaccinations outweighs any possible risks.

“While the investigation is ongoing, the EMA currently considers that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine to prevent COVID-19, with the associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” he said. the agency said.

More than 11 million AstraZeneca samples have been delivered in the UK, which is now one of the few largest European countries still supporting the vaccine. Spahn said he spoke to his counterpart in the UK before stopping the start of Germany.

AstraZeneca on Sunday doubled on the safety of its shots, saying that a careful review of the 17 million people vaccinated with it in the EU and Britain again found that there was ‘no evidence’ of a connection with blood clots.

It has been found that of those millions of people, 15 events of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 22 events of pulmonary embolism have been reported after vaccination; lower than the number that would naturally occur within the population size.

Nevertheless, the death of one woman in Denmark prompted a number of countries to suspend their implementation until reviews are done. The Danish Medicines Agency said on Monday that the woman in question had an “unusual” combination of symptoms before she died.

Later on Monday, Norway’s Rikshospitalet Hospital reported the death of another vaccinated person with severe cases of blood clots, bleeding and low platelet count.

In the Netherlands, a laboratory monitoring the use of pharmaceutical products said that 10 cases of blood clots had been received in people who had received the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, but according to no one, the low platelet count was observed in Norway and Denmark. not.

The UK has by far given the leading dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with more than 11 million people receiving a dose, and that too has stood the test of time. The actual data from the country also shows that it has a significant impact on the reduction of Covid-19 hospitalizations.

Wave of infections in Europe

The continent’s latest concerns about the vaccine come at a difficult time, with a third wave of infections threatening Europe to tackle one year after the pandemic began.

Citizens have been banned from traveling between regions since Monday and were told the whole country would be considered a “red zone” over the Easter weekend.

The restrictions mean that many Italians can no longer celebrate Easter with their families. “I am aware that today’s measures will have consequences for the education of children, for the economy and also for the psychological state of us all,” Draghi acknowledged last Friday when the measures were adopted by his cabinet.

But the picture is equally bleak in Europe, where several countries are scrambling to respond to an increase in infections.

On Monday, Germany registered another increase in cases. In France, hospitalizations are on the rise again – and the situation became so strong in Paris over the weekend that leaders began evacuating about 100 Covid-19 patients from the region, citing increased pressure on hospitals.

The patients will be relocated to “other regions where the situation in ICUs is less tense,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Sunday. Paris hospitals have already canceled many surgeries to deal with the outbreak. Health Minister Olivier Véran said a coronavirus patient is admitted to their intensive care units every 12 minutes.

The main cause of the wave of infections across the continent appears to be the more contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the UK; in France, the beach is now responsible for 66% of cases, according to the latest official data.

This variant caused devastation in Britain during Christmas and early in the new year, quickly contributing to the death toll from the UK, the highest in Europe with more than 125,000 deaths.

A strict lock-up and a rapid vaccination rate have since combined to dramatically reduce the effects of the UK and ease the pressure on hospitals.