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“These decisions are confusing, increase the reputation of vaccines and reduce people’s willingness to get vaccinated, which sadly delays the elimination of the pandemic.” lrytas.lt said Arvydas Ambrozaitis, infectious doctor and professor at Vilnius University (VU).
Our government representatives also spoke on Thursday about interest in AstraZeneca vaccine doses that the Danes did not believe in. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė announced that Lithuania had requested Denmark on Wednesday to buy unused doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. And the Minister of Health, Arūnas Dulkys, said that if successful, the country is likely to begin mass vaccination of the population with this manufacturer’s vaccine.
People’s fears are unfounded
A. Ambrozaitis emphasized that all European countries have the right to choose whether to use drugs approved in the European Union (EU).
“I believe we must follow the EEA’s decision. Under his leadership, Emer Cooke has repeatedly stated that” the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the potential risks. I emphasize the word ‘possible’ because the connection of ‘has not been proven. AstraZeneca “with those weird clots,” said A. Ambrozaitis.
According to him, it is logical to stop using the vaccine only when the EVA withdraws its registration, decides that the product is not suitable, and no such decision has been made. In addition, the infectologist pointed out that stopping using the vaccine is very harmful.
“It just came to our knowledge then. This requires vaccinating as many people as possible as soon as possible. It should be remembered that 3 million people in the world have already died from this disease and 10% died of thromboembolism. After all, are caused by the COVID-19 infection itself.
The patients were seen at the Santara clinics. One of the signs of COVID-19 disease is a bleeding disorder. The clots travel to various organs and cause failure in many organs, ”said A. Ambrozaitis.
At the time, researchers were still wondering if the AstraZeneca vaccine was actually causing blood clots. The infectologist recalled that tens of millions of people in the UK had been vaccinated with AstraZeneca. There, blood clots were seen in about 2 out of every 1 million vaccinated people. Furthermore, the professor pointed out that post-vaccination health problems are not necessarily a consequence of the vaccine.
A. Ambrozaitis assured that people must clearly understand that the possible side effects of vaccines are nothing compared to the threat posed by the coronavirus.
“I do not understand at all how a person can be more afraid of a vaccine than of a disease that has already killed millions of people. They probably do not understand this disease. You have to go to the hospital to see how people without lungs suffocate. So all those side effects, the fear of the vaccine would just evaporate, “said A. Ambrozaitis.
Changing the vaccine is not recommended
In some European countries, AstraZeneca is not used in younger people because they have a higher risk of developing blood clots after the vaccine. In Spain, it is only administered to people aged 60 to 69 years, and in Germany and France only to people over 60 years of age. people.
The last two countries have even announced that the first dose of AstraZeneca has been vaccinated before the age of 60. people can choose a third-party vaccine for the second dose. It is true that the World Health Organization (WHO) states that the modification of the vaccine has not been studied. Foreign country decisions regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine do not seem logical to VU professor Dr. Vytautas Usonis.
“There are logical and practical things. There is a very old recommendation from the World Health Organization adopted long before the COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke mainly of vaccinating children in the first years of their life. That recommendation says that the first vaccination cycle should be administered with the same vaccine, “said the professor, adding that this rule applies to vaccines against many diseases: infection by rotovirus, tick-borne encephalitis, whooping cough and others.
According to him, the change of vaccine is offered by international organizations only in cases in which it is not known which manufacturer’s vaccine was injected at the time of the first vaccination.
“The French decision is purely administrative. We must assume that they had their arguments and we must respect their decision,” said V. Usonis.
However, in the professor’s opinion, people should not worry about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines used in Lithuania.
“People’s anxiety, especially about the AstraZeneca vaccine, is not justified. There is a lot of evidence that all of these problems, including blood clotting disorders, are very rare. We talked about how often they only occur isolated cases, and millions of people vaccinated, ”said V. Usonis.
He added that the risk involved is extremely low. It is true that it is not zero. However, the professor emphasized that the side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine generally occurred after the first dose of the vaccine, so those who were waiting for the second vaccine could feel calm. Also, he said it would be riskier to use another manufacturer’s vaccine for the second dose.
“Probably, in terms of protection, there is an even greater risk of changing the vaccine, because there are no detailed studies, they are still planned, they have already started elsewhere. But today, there are no results that the introduction of one vaccine and the use of another vaccine for the second dose provide adequate protection, ”explained V. Usonis.
IWT: AstraZeneca is suitable for all adults.
The supervision of medicines used in Lithuania is carried out by the State Medicines Control Agency (VVKT). Its boss, Gytis Andulionis, highlighted last week that EVA and the manufacturer of the AstraZeneca vaccine itself did not impose any restrictions on the use of the vaccine. Therefore, it is suitable for all adults.
“Of course, the best way would be for all states to meet the conditions for registration in the same way and use it in that way. My personal call was for everyone to use the vaccine equally. But the EEA has expressed the position of that Member States can deviate, if they see the need, have opportunities and use the available vaccines in a different way, “said G. Andrdrionis during the press conference.
According to him, countries make decisions about the use of vaccines by evaluating their epidemiological situation, weighing the risks.
“We have to accept that there are risks related to vaccination. The EEA has made it clear that the overall risk / benefit ratio of the vaccine remains favorable. The AstraZeneca vaccine is a product with a favorable benefit / risk ratio,” explained the head of IWT.
