LONDON (AP) – Nearly a dozen countries, including Germany, France and Italy, have all temporarily suspended their use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine following reports last week that some people in Denmark and Norway who received a dose developed blood clots. although there is no evidence that the shot was responsible.
The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization say the available data do not indicate that the vaccine caused the blood clots and that people still need to be vaccinated. Here’s a look at what we know – and what we do not know.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Denmark was the first country to discontinue use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine last week after reports of blood clots in some people, including one person who had multiple blood clots and died 10 days after receiving at least one dose. The Danish health authorities said the suspension would last at least two weeks while the cases were being investigated, even though they noted that “at present it cannot be concluded whether there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots.”
Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Thailand and Congo soon followed. Norwegian authorities reported on Saturday that four people under the age of 50 who received the AstraZeneca vaccine had an extremely low platelet count. This can lead to severe bleeding. Shortly afterwards, Ireland and the Netherlands announced that they would also temporarily suspend their use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The authorities in the Netherlands – like those elsewhere – have said that their suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine is strictly preventive.
“We must always err on the side of warning, so it is wise to press the pause button now as a precautionary measure,” said Hugo de Jonge, the Dutch health minister.
On Monday, Norwegian doctors announced that one of the people admitted to hospital after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine had died. After I said last week they would continue with the vaccine, German officials said Monday that they would discontinue its use to new reports of new problems, based on the advice of the medicine regulator. French President Emmanuel Macron said France would also stop using it and Italy would stop using the shot shortly afterwards. Spanish authorities have said they are reviewing the situation.
In response to the suspension of the vaccine, AstraZeneca said it had thoroughly reviewed the data on 17 million people receiving doses across Europe and found that there were 37 cases of people getting blood clots. It is said that there is no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots in any age group or gender in any country.
“It is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this magnitude, and is similar to other licensed COVID-19 vaccines,” the company said.
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IS THERE ANY EVIDENCE that the vaccine is responsible?
No. The European Medicines Agency says there is “no indication that the vaccine caused these conditions.” The EU regulator said the number of reports of blood clots in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine was not higher than for those who did not get the chance.
In Britain, where 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered – more than any other country – about 11 people were reported to have blood clots after receiving a shot. It has been proven that no one was caused by the vaccine.
Some doctors have pointed out that since the vaccination campaigns were started by giving doses to the most vulnerable people, those who are being immunized are likely to have more health problems. According to experts, it can be difficult to determine if a vaccination shot is responsible.
Blood clots that form in the arms, legs or elsewhere can sometimes come loose and move to the heart, brain or lungs, causing strokes, heart attacks or a fatal blockage of blood flow.
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WHY DID THEY PREPARE THE VACCINATION?
When vaccines are widely distributed, scientists expect serious health issues and deaths to be reported – simply because millions of people are getting the shots and there are likely to be problems in such a large group. The vast majority of these are ultimately not linked to the vaccine, but because COVID-19 vaccines are still experimental, scientists need to investigate every possibility that the shot may have unintended side effects. The shots are considered experimental because the vaccines were only developed in the past year, so there is no long-term data for any of them.
“People are dying every day, and we have more than 300 million people worldwide who have been immunized who will die from other causes,” said Dr. Mariangela Simao, an assistant director-general of the WHO, said.
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IS THIS A PROCESS WITH OTHER COVID-19 BOSSEINTE?
The EMA is currently investigating whether COVID-19 shots produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca, low levels of platelets in some patients can cause a condition that can lead to bruising and bleeding.
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DID ASTRAZENECA GO TO OTHER PROBLEMS?
The vaccine has been approved for use in adults in more than 50 countries and has been shown to be safe and effective in research conducted in Britain, Brazil and South Africa. However, concerns have been raised about the release of the vaccine data, and some European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have questioned the vaccine’s effectiveness.
Britain first approved the vaccine based on partial results indicating that the shots were about 70% effective. But the results were clouded by a manufacturing error that caused some participants in their first survey to receive only half a dose – a mistake that the researchers did not immediately acknowledge. When the EMA recommended that the vaccine be licensed, the effectiveness of the vaccine was estimated at about 60%.
The data on whether the vaccine protected older adults was also incomplete, which led some European countries to initially withhold the shot from older people.
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration has suspended a study of 30,000 Americans for an unusual six weeks as frustrated regulators seek information on possible side effects reported in Britain.
“All the information we have seen about the AstraZeneca vaccine indicates that it is very safe and that it saves people from dying from COVID,” said Dr. Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, said. ‘But it could be more of a perception problem, because every time there is a vaccine problem, we hear the name’ AstraZeneca ‘shortly afterwards. ”
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SO WHAT ARE EXPERTS THAT TELL PEOPLE TO DO?
The WHO and the EMA – as well as regulators in several countries – say people still need to be vaccinated and that the small risks of being vaccinated outweigh any possible harm.
“Public safety will always come first,” said the British drug regulator. “People should still get their COVID-19 vaccine if asked.”