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For three weeks, a convention center in Rome ran 12 hours a day in races to vaccinate Italians. Now it has stopped working.
Although the vaccine was not scheduled, the Italians hoped it could serve as a line of defense to help repel the third wave of Covid-19. However, on March 15 they began to realize that they were losing the race, as most of the country had to be isolated due to a sharp increase in infections. Then Italy and other European countries discontinued use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, when concerns were raised that it could be linked to some rare cases of blood clots and death.
The Rome convention center used to administer 1,800 injections a day, which are now only used to store vaccines. There is concern that the suspension of vaccines in Europe will make the spread even further out of control.
The couple held hands in the active treatment area of the San Filippo Neri hospital in Rome earlier this week. Picture: AP.
Jealous Europeans in the US, UK and other countries have accelerated the vaccination campaign, helping to reduce mortality and making normal life easier again. More and more people are angry that the mismanagement of vaccines in Europe has created the opportunity for the third wave to arrive. Many public health experts consider stopping AstraZeneca vaccination, even temporarily, as the measure that could turn out to be the biggest mistake.
“Every day that vaccination is delayed, there are more hospitalizations and deaths,” said Fabrizio Pregliasco, a virologist at the University of Milan.
Even with confirmation from the European regulator that it could continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine and a report to be released on March 18, many experts feared that the public had lost confidence in the vaccine.
While Covid-19 cases have decreased in the US, cases in the EU have increased by 29% in the last two weeks. The UK’s most contagious nCoV variant now accounts for more than half of cases in most EU countries.
Italy recorded 502 deaths caused by Covid-19 on March 16, the highest level in nearly two months. On March 17, Hungary recorded a record number of deaths per day and Poland blockaded the country until early April. Athens, the Greek capital, has just turned a hospital into a place for patients. Covid-19 in the face of an increase in hospitalizations.
Noted German virologist Christian Drosten warned this week that by Easter last year the country will fall into a Christmas-like situation. Variations make things “much more difficult,” he said.
In that context, Many scientists were surprised when, one after another, European countries announced the cessation of vaccination against AstraZeneca. a central axis of the EU vaccination plan.
Denmark and Norway stopped the program last week, but a big change came when Germany noticed that seven relatively young people had blood clots after vaccination. The German Institute of Public Health has ordered that vaccination against AstraZeneca be suspended pending further evaluation.
Other countries are under pressure to do the same. Few politicians want to be blamed for continuing to allow vaccines to be dangerous, while other countries are being more cautious. “There is political pressure and the domino effect in many countries,” said Steven Van Gucht of the Belgian Institute of Public Health, one of the few EU countries that did not stop vaccination against AstraZeneca.
“If we continue with this approach, we will have to stop the vaccination campaign over and over again” whenever deaths or unusual complications arise after the injection. “It is a dangerous slope.”
Recognizing that even a short-term suspension of vaccines could have a lasting effect on public opinion, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that he would be one of the first to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine after the suspension was lifted. safe. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he will receive the vaccine soon, as many Britons canceled vaccination appointments this week.
The suspension “hurts the confidence in vaccination a lot,” said Antoni Trilla, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, where 900 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine remain in the freezer. “People will say: ‘I don’t want to be the one to get the strange reaction reported by the media, I want another chance.’ In addition to AstraZeneca, the UK also implemented Pfizer vaccination.
Trilla said Even if the vaccine increases the risk of blood clots, that could be an acceptable risk. “After working with colleagues for a year to care for Covid-19 patients, seeing active people in treatment, and seeing the severity of the virus, I take the risk. As much as possible,” Trilla said.
A healthcare worker prepares to vaccinate AstraZeneca in Belgium on 3/17. Picture: Reuters.
The UK, which has injected millions of doses of AstraZeneca, says it has not had cases of blood clots like Germany. Many scientists believe that clotting events may not be related to the vaccine, although they say that any information about an abnormal reaction deserves careful examination.
“A lot of people, myself included, don’t think vaccines are causing that side effect,” said Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia. “This is very likely a coincidence, not a causal relationship.”
The suspension of vaccines in Europe continues to delay the already delayed vaccination campaign. Less than half of Italians over 80, the group most at risk of contracting nCoV, have been vaccinated. One in 28 people has received the two full injections. That means hospitals are still at risk of being overwhelmed by variants that are more contagious and appear more dangerous than before.
Meanwhile, one in nine Americans is fully vaccinated. One in five people receives the first dose. The prospect of a more normal summer is approaching. The UK was even faster: around 37% of citizens received the first dose, almost half of which was AstraZeneca.
The EU is increasingly disappointed to see other rich countries move forward. The situation in Europe is all the more remarkable as the region is home to a number of pharmaceutical companies whose production capacity could have improved last year with large public investment, such as Chien. Speed translation of America. Instead, Europe was slow and focused on buying vaccines as cheap as possible.
This strategy ensures that they do not compete, but it also means that the vaccine decisions of a rich country like Germany are hampered by economic concerns of poorer countries like Bulgaria.
Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, a Brussels-based economic policy advisory organization, commented: “That ‘stingy’ approach is completely wrong. Vaccines cost 10, 20, 30 or 50 euros. It is still nothing compared to the economic losses. of people because of the blocking order. The difference is huge. “
There are already signs for Europe for the third wave starting in December 2020, when the UK, the US and Israel started the vaccination campaign. European countries also started vaccinating around the same time, but the EU vaccine supply was much lower, so they quickly fell behind.
Then the nCoV strains began to spread, rendering preventive measures ineffective. Then AstraZeneca announced that it would provide less than half of the doses it had committed to during the first months of the year.
AstraZeneca clinical studies also lack data on the efficacy of the vaccine in the elderly, as not many of these groups were enrolled in the trial. Many EU countries were initially only used by young people, although the EU regulator claims that the vaccines are suitable for all ages.
Ancona University Hospital in Italy’s Marche region has been under enormous pressure for the past two months due to the most contagious nCoV strain. The number of people hospitalized has reached a record since April last year.
“The only other way to stop vaccination is to vaccinate. The problem is that we don’t have enough vaccines,” said Stefano Menzo, director of the hospital’s hospital laboratory.
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