France, Germany and Italy on Monday became the last countries to suspend the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine while EU regulators investigate reports of blood clots in recipients, joining Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland and several others.
The most recently: The European Medicines Agency said in a statement that it would conduct a “rigorous analysis of all data related” to blood clots this week, but added: “While its investigation is ongoing, the EMA currently maintains the view that the benefits AstraZeneca’s vaccine to prevent COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweighs the risks of side effects. “
The current situation: AstraZeneca insisted that its vaccine is safe, and the World Health Organization has warned countries against suspending vaccinations. Countries said they are taking the measures as a precautionary measure.
What they are saying: AstraZeneca said in a statement on Sunday that there have been 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism among the 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the UK so far.
- “This is much smaller than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar in other licensed COVID-19 vaccines,” said the pharmaceutical company.
- “The nature of the pandemic has increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond standard practices for monitoring the safety of licensed drugs when reporting vaccine events to ensure public safety,” said AstraZeneca chief physician Ann Taylor.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization said Monday: “As of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and contain serious diseases of the virus.”
The big picture: AstraZeneca is one of four coronavirus vaccines that have received emergency authorization in the EU, in addition to Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. AstraZeneca has not yet applied for emergency clearance in the USA, as it awaits data from a large clinical trial.