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France, Spain, Germany, Italy and more than a dozen other countries decided last week to wait for what the EEA would say, calling it simply a “precautionary measure.” There is concern that the AstraZeneca vaccine may be associated with blood clots. It is true that the actions of nation states even then contradicted the advice of global health agencies.
The link between blood clots and the vaccine has not been established by either the EVA or World Health Organization (WHO) officials, who have feverishly urged Europe to trust science and continue vaccination.
There is no need to look for an example of how much has already been lost. In Europe, the vaccination program is seven miles behind the UK, which has not wavered for a minute on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The UK is already reaping the rewards of vaccination
Vaccination in the UK has yielded clear benefits. More than 11 million doses of AstraZeneca have already been used here, and empirical evidence clearly shows that vaccines reduce the incidence of infection and reduce the number of hospitalized patients.
The country said it had vaccinated half of all adults or up to 27 million people on Saturday. As a result, the UK is already in a very optimistic frame of mind.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has even promised it as of June 21. the country will be able to live as before the pandemic.
After that, tickets for several major festivals were even sold out in the summer in the UK. The rest of Europe at that time had already agreed that there would be no massive events this summer. Of course, Johnson can still withdraw his promise, but neither optimism nor confidence in the vaccine will take away the ripe fruit from the British.
By the way, Johnson himself was vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday.
The actions of European governments have surprised experts and raised myriad questions for people who have already been vaccinated with AstraZeneca or are preparing to do so.
But health experts are sending a reassuring message. Cases of blood clots have been reported in vaccinated people and their number is lower than in unvaccinated people.
“At the moment, I don’t see any reason why any country should stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine. There is no logic to that,” said Michael Head, principal investigator at the University of Southampton in the UK, before the decision of EVE.
“These vaccines protect against the virus. They should be used as soon as possible.” Pausing the vaccination campaign without good reason now seems like a bad move, “he added.
Damage to the vaccination program
Critical arrows began flying towards AstraZeneca in January. EU leaders came into conflict with the pharmaceutical campaign because it reduced the amount of vaccine doses promised in the signed contract. Later, most European countries questioned the efficacy of the vaccine in the elderly, but eventually changed their focus. But the fight for the skeptics continued. The EU has also started to block the export of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other continents.
Aura of mistrust in Europe AstraZeneca continues to abandon the vaccine. Following the EEA decision, the parties have repeatedly announced the resumption of use of this vaccine, but there are concerns that doubts about AstraZeneca could have negative long-term consequences.
“I am concerned about doubts about vaccines in Europe,” Head said, calling French President Emmanuel Macron’s earlier comments on the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the elderly as “useless” and noting that recent fears about blood clots could lead to a host of new problems. .
“Fear can increase the number of people who doubt the benefits of the vaccine,” he said. Studies show that the French themselves are already quite skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines.
Even concerns about a particular manufacturer’s vaccine could delay plans for a worldwide victory against a pandemic. “We don’t want people to say that I am waiting for another vaccine. We still don’t have enough other vaccines. If people wait, they will be unprotected from the virus longer, there will be more cases than they could have if confidence in the vaccine had not fluctuated, “Head said.
Will doubts increase the threat of mutations in Lithuania?
According to Saulius Čaplinskas, specialist in infectious diseases, the decision made by the Ministry of Health (SAM) on Tuesday and the lack of vaccination of AstraZeneca for two days was a big mistake that is dangerous for several reasons.
“If people skip the second dose of the vaccine, no matter what the vaccine is, they won’t develop complete immunity and the virus will take advantage of it; in other words, the virus will have a better chance of mutating.
Now there is a lot of talk about the mutation in the virus, which is why it mutates so quickly. One of the reasons is that it spreads very fast, there are many infected people, immunity works differently.
The more people have ‘some’ immunity, either because it fades after the disease, or because they are not fully vaccinated, or because full immunity is not developed, there is a chance that resistant mutations and, say, worse mutations , develop. develop.
This is another example of why doubts are dangerous if people don’t get the second dose, ”said S. Čaplinskas during the news radio show.
Prepared by CNN
