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To date, 13 European countries have stopped vaccinating against AstraZeneca
Several European countries are coming under fire for stopping vaccination of the Oxford-AstraZeneca novel coronavirus infection vaccine (Corona 19) and reviewing its safety.
France, Germany, Spain and Italy said they were awaiting the results of an investigation by the EU pharmaceutical regulator that a small number of AstraZeneca vaccines had developed blood clots.
In contrast, other European Union countries, including Poland and Belgium, continue to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is due to announce its findings on the 18th.
On the 16th, the EMA said it was still “convinced” of the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
EMA Commissioner Emma Cook said blood clot cases reported in some countries are generally common. “I want to emphasize that there is currently no evidence that the vaccine caused these symptoms.”
French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi issued a joint statement on the 16th, saying the EMA’s comments were “positive.”
Meanwhile, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) also held a meeting on the 16th, but a spokesperson stressed that “there is no evidence” that the reported clot outbreak is related to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The WHO urged not to stop vaccination. The vaccination cessation came as Europe is still struggling to stem the increase in confirmed cases.
In the UK, more than 11 million people have received at least one AstraZeneca vaccine and no higher levels of death or blood clots have been seen.
What steps are European countries taking?
Thirteen European countries have stopped receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. Denmark was the first, followed by Norway and Iceland. Germany, France, Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Latvia and Sweden have done the same.
The three largest European Union countries, Germany, France and Italy, said on the 15th that they would decide whether to resume the AstraZeneca vaccine based on the results of an EMA investigation.
All three countries said they had decided to stop vaccination against AstraZeneca as a “precautionary measure.”
The number of COVID-19 vaccines per 100 people in the European Union is significantly lower than in the UK.
French Health Minister Olivier Berand said on the 16th: “I hope that the European scientific community will pronounce itself on the night of the 18th.”
Alain Fisher, an immunologist who heads the French government’s advisory group, told Inter Radio France that “there have been some very rare and worrying reports of cases requiring the cessation and testing of vaccines.”
The German Health Ministry also stressed the need to stop vaccination, citing the case of blood clots in a small number of vaccinations. Germany has postponed the meeting to discuss resumption of vaccination after the EMA’s announcement of the findings on the 18th.
To date, there is no evidence that the clot in question is associated with a vaccine, and the EMA said other factors are likely to be the cause.
Several countries, including Austria, have stopped vaccinating certain AstraZeneca vaccine products, and Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine have said they will continue to vaccinate the AstraZeneca vaccine.
‘The benefits of vaccines outweigh the risks’
Several politicians and doctors criticized the cessation of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Karl Lauterbach, an epidemiologist and health spokesman for the German center-left Social Democratic Party, said that stopping vaccination was a legitimate decision, but on the one hand it was a political decision.
He told Deutschland Funk Radio: “I will still receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. Based on what is known so far, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks. Especially for the elderly, ”he said.
A spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Germany said the government’s decision to stop vaccines had disrupted vaccines throughout Germany. Janosh Damen, a health expert from the German Green Party, said authorities could have continued with the vaccination.
Mihal Dvorchik, Poland’s chief of vaccination, said countries that stopped vaccinating “have succumbed to the panic created by the press.”
What is the situation of Corona 19 in Europe?
The European split on the AstraZeneca vaccine took place as Europe struggled to suppress the increase in confirmed cases of corona19.
There is deep concern that many countries have tightened quarantine regulations due to the rapid increase in confirmed cases, and that a bigger problem will emerge in Europe’s vaccination scheme, which is already in short supply.
Weekly average of daily confirmed cases in each country from January 2020 to March 14, 2021
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s Institute for Infectious Diseases, warned on the 16th that the number of confirmed cases in Germany is growing exponentially, 20% more than last week.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex said: “The situation is similar to that of the third spread,” as the three mutant viruses are widely spread in Korea.
Norway’s capital Oslo has announced stricter quarantine regulations, and Italy and the Netherlands are implementing containment.
In the European Union alone, some 575,000 people died from Corona 19, which was also hit hard economically.
