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However, the EVA added that the benefits of using the vaccine still outweigh the risks.
The Amsterdam-based supervisory authority “called an emergency meeting on Thursday, March 18, to summarize the information gathered and any further action that may be necessary,” its report said.
French President Emmanuel Macron previously predicted that an EVA report on further evaluations of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be released on Tuesday.
The agency stressed that it still believes that the vaccine, developed by a British and Swedish company in collaboration with the University of Oxford, is safe to use.
“The EVA currently believes that the benefits of AstraZeneca in preventing COVID-19 and the associated risks of hospitalization and death outweigh the risks of side effects,” it said in a statement Monday.
Marco Cavaleri, Head of the Agency’s Vaccine Strategy Unit, previously told the Health Committee of the European Parliament: “We are looking at all the data, especially the deaths that have been reported.”
However, he added that the EVA “will see no problem in continuing the vaccination campaign with this vaccine.”
According to the EVA, suspected side effects included blood clots and sometimes “unusual features” were seen, such as low levels of platelets, the cells that cause blood to clot.
However, the agency emphasized that such a reaction occurred “only in a very small number of people who received the vaccine.”
“Every year many thousands of people in the European Union develop blood clots for a variety of reasons,” said the EVA. “The incidence of thromboembolism in vaccinated people is not higher than in the general population.”
The agency works closely with AstraZeneca, experts in circulation and other health services, as well as in Great Britain, “with around 11 million injections. doses of this vaccine.
The EEA discussed the issue last weekend and will “thoroughly analyze” possible side effects in the days leading up to the extraordinary meeting, the agency added.
WHO: Countries should continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine for now
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that countries should continue to vaccinate the population with a coronavirus vaccine developed by the United Kingdom and the Swedish company AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford, although several countries have stopped using use it for fear that the drug could cause blood clots.
“We don’t want people to panic, so for now we would recommend that countries continue to get vaccinated with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan told a news conference.
“We have not yet found a link between these events and the vaccine,” he added.
Germany, France and Italy stop vaccination
On Monday, Germany, Italy and France announced that they would discontinue vaccination with AstraZeneca due to incidents of blood clotting.
“Following new reports of cerebrovascular thrombosis associated with vaccination in Germany and Europe, PEI [Paulio Erhlicho institutas] believes that more research is needed, ”the Health Ministry said, citing the country’s authority responsible for surveillance of vaccination.
“The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide whether and how the new findings will affect the approval of this vaccine,” the ministry added.
Several European countries, including Ireland and the Netherlands, have also frozen the use of AstraZeneca, a drug developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford.
The UK and Sweden-based company and Oxford University said there was no link between the vaccine and increased blood clotting.
The Czech Republic and Poland will continue vaccination with AstraZeneca
Unlike other European countries, the Czech Republic and Poland will not stop vaccinating the population with AstraZeneca for the time being.
“The benefits of the vaccine are undeniable, and there is no reason to fear,” Health Minister Jan Blatny said after a government meeting in Prague on Monday.
At the same time, he assured that the situation of recent incidents in other countries and their investigation are being closely monitored. As a result of the blood clots, Germany, France and Italy, among others, have temporarily stopped vaccinating the population with AstraZeneca.
According to the Ministry of Health, Poland will continue to use the vaccine. Poland reportedly follows the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency (EEA). More than half a million doses of AstraZeneca have already been vaccinated in the country.
To date, more than one million doses of vaccines have been used in the Czech Republic: Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca. Currently, the country is battling a dramatic third wave of coronavirus.
Blatny was in favor of extending the strict quarantine until after Easter. It is said that the number of infections cannot be allowed to increase like after Christmas. Schools and most shops are now closed in the Czech Republic. People can leave their districts only in exceptional cases.
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