The World Health Organization recommends continuing to use AstraZeneca

GenevaThe World Health Organization recommended on Wednesday to continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 after several countries suspended its use for fear of possible side effects, and also called for the use of the American Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The United Nations agency announced this Wednesday in a statement that “it currently considers that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks and recommends the continuation of vaccination campaigns.”

And it indicated that its experts, whose opinion is expected to be issued, continue to “evaluate” the data on the health problems that some of the people who have received the vaccine have had.

And following its approval on Friday, the organization also recommended the use of another viral vector vaccine, Johnson & Johnson, from the United States, even in countries where the highly contagious mutated virus spreads.

Faced with doubts and concerns about the safety of the British Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine, British Health Minister Matt Hancock called on Wednesday to continue using the Corona vaccine.

Matt Hancock wrote in an article in the British newspaper “The Sun”, “There is no evidence that the vaccine causes blood clots.”

The British minister emphasized that this is not only a personal opinion, but also the opinion of the British Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Health Products, the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency.

But the Spanish health authorities announced that they were investigating three cases of people who had blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, and one of them died.

– Restore confidence – To restore confidence in this product, in which only 22% of the French have shown confidence, according to a survey conducted by the Elab Institute, French Prime Minister Jean Castex promised on Tuesday night that it will receive “very soon One dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine once the suspension of its use is lifted.

Castex clearly pointed out the possibility of reimposing the closure for the weekend or the whole week, on the 12 million inhabitants of Paris and its suburbs, which is the most densely populated region in France, which is facing a rapid outbreak. of the epidemic.

President Emmanuel Macron must decide on the measure, which will take effect over the weekend in other regions. The announcement is expected to air on Thursday.

While facing a vaccine shortage, Europe threatened, through the European Commission, on Wednesday, to tighten the conditions for the export of anti-Corona vaccines produced within the European Union out of the bloc, to ensure “reciprocity” with vaccine producing countries, and particularly asked the UK to export doses to the continent.

France, Germany and other European countries had suspended the use of AstraZeneca in vaccination campaigns as a precautionary measure pending a decision that the European Medicines Agency is expected to issue on Thursday after reports of people receiving the vaccine. exposed to blood clots.

– Kovacs in Palestine – However, on Wednesday, Australia asked AstraZeneca and the European Union to urgently obtain one million doses of the vaccine it bought for delivery to Papua New Guinea, which is facing an increase in the number of Covid cases. . -19.

In early March, Rome banned the export of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines produced on European soil and destined for Australia. He attributed this action to several factors, including “the continuing shortage of vaccines and the delay in supplies from the laboratory.”

On Wednesday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank received a first batch of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the Kovacs mechanism designated for disadvantaged areas.

An Israeli security source said: “About 60,000 doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines destined for the Palestinians, as part of the Kovacs program, arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.”

The American company Moderna has begun trials of a Covid-19 vaccine in thousands of children between the ages of six months and 11 years, and the biotech company plans to attract 6,750 children and babies to participate in its clinical trials in the United States and Canada.

No St. Patrick’s Day celebration: One year after the first blockade was imposed, Ireland canceled, for the second year in a row, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Sadly Tom Cleary, owner of an empty bar in Dublin, says: “A year has passed and it seems we have returned to our starting point” amidst some empty kegs.

“It is sad that there is no end in sight,” he told AFP, asking “Are we going to face the same thing on St. Patrick’s Day?”

Given the deterioration of the health situation, the Philippines will temporarily close its borders to foreigners and reduce the number of citizens authorized to enter the country, due to the high number of infections in the archipelago. Poland, for the same reason, imposed a partial blockade on its population.

On Wednesday, Iraq recorded 5,663 new infections with the Corona virus, which is a record number of infections since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country and two weeks after the historic visit of the Pope and the encounter with a limited number of crowds. but in the midst of a lax commitment to wearing masks.

The epidemic has killed 2,671,720 people in the world since the WHO China office reported the outbreak of the disease in late December 2019, according to a census conducted by Agence France-Presse according to official sources on Wednesday at 11:00 am. 11:00 GMT.