LONDON (AP) – British authorities on Wednesday recommended that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine not be given to adults under 30 where possible, as evidence is mounting that the shot could be linked to rare blood clots.
The recommendation came when regulators in the UK and the European Union stressed that the benefits of receiving the vaccine outweighed the risks for most people – although the European Medicines Agency said it had a ‘possible link’. between the shot and the rare lumps.
UK authorities have recommended that people under 30 be offered alternatives to AstraZeneca.
But the EMA does not recommend any such age restrictions, leaving it to its member states to decide whether it will restrict their use.
Several countries have already set limits on who can receive the vaccine, and any restrictions are being carefully considered, as the vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store than many others, is critical to global vaccination campaigns and a mainstay. of the World Health Organization. supported program, known as COVAX, aimed at getting vaccines to some of the poorest countries in the world.
“This is a course correction, there is no doubt about it,” England Deputy Chief of Staff Jonathan Van-Tam told a news conference.
“But in a sense, it is quite normal in medicine for doctors to change their preferences about how patients are treated over time.”
Van-Tam said the impact on Britain’s vaccination schedule – one of the fastest in the world – should be ‘zero or negligible’, assuming the national health service receives expected deliveries of other vaccines, including those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna. word.
EU and UK regulators held simultaneous press conferences on Wednesday afternoon to unveil the results of investigations into reports of blood clots that have raised concerns about the explosion of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The EU agency describes the blood clots as a very rare side effect.
Dr Sabine Straus, chair of the EMA’s Safety Committee, said the best information came from Germany, where there is one report of rare blood clots for every 100,000 doses, although she notes far fewer reports in the UK.
Yet it is less than the blood clot risk that healthy women face as a result of birth control pills, said another expert, Dr. Peter Arlett, noted.
The agency said that most cases occurred within two weeks of vaccination in women under 60 years of age, but based on the available evidence, it could not identify specific risk factors.
Experts have investigated several dozen cases that came mainly from Europe and the United Kingdom, where about 25 million people received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“The reported cases of unusual blood clotting after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine should be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine,” said Emer Cooke, executive director of the agency.
“The risk of death from COVID is much greater than the risk of death from these side effects.”
Arlett said there is no information indicating an increased risk of the other major COVID-19 vaccines.
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