WARSAW, Poland (AP) – European countries resumed vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday, while leaders sought to reassure their populations that it is safe after brief suspensions that cast doubt on a vaccine that is critical to ending the vaccine. coronavirus pandemic.
British and French Prime Ministers rolled up their sleeves, as well as a handful of other top politicians across the continent, where vaccination initiatives have stumbled repeatedly and several countries are now imposing blockades while infections increase in many places.
Britain is a notable exception: the outbreak has receded and the country has been widely praised for its vaccination campaign, although this week it announced that it would also be hit by a shortage of supplies.. The UK has also never stopped using AstraZeneca. European Union countries, on the other hand, have been struggling to launch vaccines quickly, and the vaccine break for many this week has only added to these problems.
The suspensions came after reports of blood clots in some recipients of the vaccine, although international health agencies urged governments to proceed with the injection, saying the benefits outweighed the risks. On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency said the vaccine does not increase the overall incidence of blood clots, although it could not rule out a link to a small number of rare clots.
The move paved the way for a number of European countries, including Italy, France and Germany, to start using the vaccine again.
“It is clear that lifting the suspension is a great relief to us because we have to accelerate the vaccination campaign strongly,” said Dr. Giovanni Rezza, head of prevention at the Italian Ministry of Health.
Rezza told reporters in Rome that Italy only reluctantly stopped the campaign out of caution, but needed to revive it quickly to make up for lost time now.
He said Italy needed to more than double the 200,000 vaccinations a day the country achieved before the suspension to reach its goal of inoculating 80% of the population by September.
Health experts have expressed concern that, although the suspensions have been brief, they can still undermine confidence in the vaccine at a time when many people are already hesitant to get an injection that has developed so quickly. Although many EU countries have fought this reluctance, it is even more worrying in developing nations who may have no other choice of vaccine. AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to store than many rival products, is the cornerstone of vaccination initiatives in many poorer countries.
Amid these concerns, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received an injection of AstraZeneca at St. Thomas’ Hospital in south London, where he was treated in intensive care last April for COVID-19.
“I literally felt nothing, so it was very good, very fast and I can’t recommend it very much,” said Johnson, 56, as he left the hospital after his injection. “Guys, when you get your notification for a jab, please go and get it. It is the best thing for you, the best thing for your family and everyone else. “
Others who were shot on Friday included French Prime Minister Jean Castex, Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Prime Minister Janez Jansa and a German state governor. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said he would take the picture of AstraZeneca when it was time for his age group, and said his adult son received it in London.
“So there is absolutely no doubt” about his safety, Draghi, 73, said at a news conference.
Castex, 55, said he stepped up because he wanted to show total confidence in the pitch, although he is still not eligible under French rules. Former director of the Pasteur Institute, Patrick Berche, told BFMTV that the change was “a very nice gesture”.
France restarted the vaccine with some restrictions that seemed designed to further reduce the risk of potential side effects.
Other countries that are resuming the use of AstraZeneca vaccines include Bulgaria, a nation of 7 million, where only 355,000 people have been vaccinated with the first dose so far – the lowest number in the European Union.
But not everyone came back so quickly for the vaccine. Sweden, Norway and Denmark, which was the first country to stop using AstraZeneca, said they would wait another week before deciding whether to resume. And Finland decided to pause the vaccine for the first time on Friday, saying it would stop using it for a week while investigating two suspected cases of blood clots.
While there are concerns that the pause may have created lasting doubts, some were relieved that the vaccine would be available again on Friday.
Marvin Brandl, 28, an emergency paramedic, was among a group of health professionals who were shot in the German city of Cologne. He expressed confidence in all vaccines that have been approved by the EU.
“Last night, when I found out that vaccination was possible again, I made an appointment immediately and was pleased and grateful to have been vaccinated,” said Brandl.
Officials in Berlin said that two major vaccination centers were reopening on Friday and that people whose appointments were canceled this week will be able to receive the vaccine over the weekend without making a new one.
After several stumbles in the vaccine launch, EU governments are eager to start vaccinating again, especially as infections and hospitalizations are increasing dramatically in many countries, with many officials saying they are entering or are already in a “third wave” .
Infection rates in Germany “are now clearly exponential,” said Lars Schaade, deputy head of the Robert Koch Institute. Officials warned that the country could face a return to stricter blocking measures until Easter.
In France, the government has given up on ordering a rigid blockade for Paris and several other regions, instead of announcing a patchwork of new restrictions, despite an increasingly alarming situation in hospitals, with an increase in the number of patients with COVID -19.
In Poland, more people use respirators than at any time since the start of the pandemic, and children make up a higher percentage of those hospitalized. Officials attribute the increase to a more communicable mutation first identified in Britain that is spreading like wildfire in the country, and say the worst is yet to come. The central European country is preparing to enter a new national blockade on Saturday – although it is less restrictive than the tax a year ago.
Hungary, for its part, extended the blocking restrictions for another week, as a powerful outbreak breaks records every day – despite the fact that the country has the second highest vaccination rate in the EU, after Malta.
In Bosnia, which is not part of the EU, the rise in infections has led to a blockade that took effect in the capital on Friday. The Balkan nation of 3.3 million has not yet started mass vaccinating its citizens and has kept measures relaxed and ski resorts open during the winter.
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Associated Press writers from across Europe contributed to this report.
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