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Several countries have put the Astra Zeneca vaccine on hold. Possible serious side effects are being investigated. In Norway, a connection is not excluded.
Astra Zenecas coronary vaccine. Photo: Frank Augstein / AP
Norway and several countries have temporarily stopped using the Astra Zeneca coronary vaccine.
Reports of possible serious side effects are being investigated. So far no connection has been established.
This week, there is a hectic meeting activity at the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The EMA Safety Committee (PRAC) will meet again on Thursday. Then a conclusion is expected. This could lead to several countries reusing the vaccine.
Rikshospitalet in Oslo. Photo: Olav Olsen
I don’t see anything similar
In Norway, three people entered Rikshospitalet after receiving the vaccine. Low platelet counts, blood clots in small and large vessels, and bleeding are common to them. One of them is dead. A death in Tynset is also under investigation.
Sigurd Hortemo is chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
– Norway has meant that we cannot rule out that the unusual picture of the disease with blood clots, low platelet counts and bleeding could be related to vaccination, he says.
– Even the experienced doctors of the Rikshospitalet have not seen anything like it, he adds.
Not more often than expected
So far, 15 million people in Europe have received the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
An increased incidence of total blood clots, myocardial infarction or stroke has not been reported.
The PRAC has its own review of this. But so far the incidence is not more frequent than expected.
– Rare disorder
Some of those affected have been diagnosed with sinus vein thrombosis. It is a rare disorder, according to Hortemo.
The condition produces a special form of blood clot in the brain that affects the large venous canals of the hard meninges.
– Cases of disease are life-threatening and have occurred in previously healthy young people 3 to 14 days after vaccination, he adds.
The same pattern has been observed in several other countries.
Theory: immune reaction
Pål André Holme is the chief physician at Rikshospitalet. You think there is likely a connection. He told this to Dagsrevyen on NRK on Tuesday.
On Monday they worked on a series of hypotheses. He said the following to Aftenposten on Monday:
– We think it’s an immune reaction. If we can moderate the immune system of the patients within us, then the condition stabilizes.
The benefit must outweigh the risk
Often times, there is a risk of minor side effects from a vaccine. For the vaccine to be used, the benefit must outweigh the risk.
If this requirement is not met, the vaccine will be rejected. This is what the Norwegian Medicines Agency must decide.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that they believe the vaccine can be used.
So far, the EMA has found no evidence that it should not be used. A final conclusion is expected on Thursday.
Andreas Heddini is the medical director of Astra Zeneca in the Nordic region. He believes that the benefits outweigh the risks.
– First, no connection has been tested. Second, these are very, very unusual symptoms, Andreas Heddini, the company’s medical director for the Nordic region, told Aftenposten on Wednesday.
Germany: – surprising
The vaccine is also causing unrest in Germany. There, the side effects have been re-analyzed following the findings in Norway.
They have found several cases of the same condition.
“After looking back at the data, we see a striking accumulation of a very rare form of blood clot in a vein that drains blood from the brain in connection with low platelet count and bleeding,” write the experts at Paul- Ehrlich-Institut. in Germany.
“This happens shortly after receiving the covid vaccine from Astra Zeneca,” they write.
Therefore, they recommended that Germany discontinue the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
