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Some people in France, Germany and the United Kingdom are insisting on a specific vaccine against coronavirus.
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European officials are struggling to deliver the AstraZeneca coup, citing performance concerns.
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The Washington Post reported that some in the UK preferred the vaccine developed locally by AstraZeneca.
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People receiving vaccines in the UK, France and Germany are complicating the launches, trying to insist on receiving a particular injection, according to reports.
In continental Europe, authorities have pointed to unfilled appointments and empty vaccination centers when the AstraZeneca vaccine is on offer.
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The resistance appears to stem from test data that suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccine was less effective than that of Pfizer, the other vaccine widely used in Europe.
In the UK, there are anecdotal reports of some people insisting on the Pfizer jab and others pushing for AstraZeneca, citing their local credentials.
Here’s what’s going on:
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In Germany, hundreds of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca injection have not been used, Yahoo News reported. Less than 200 people came for 3,800 daily consultations in Berlin centers offering only the AstraZeneca injection, The Times of London reported on Monday.
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Austrian and Bulgarian officials also described public resistance to the AstraZeneca vaccine, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday.
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In Italy, teachers and police have expressed concern about the AstraZeneca vaccine, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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In France, authorities have scheduled vaccinations for health professionals after several workers who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine said they were ill because of flu-like side effects. Last month, President Emmanuel Macron expressed doubts about the vaccine’s effectiveness.
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In Sweden, two regions have temporarily suspended the launch of AstraZeneca vaccines after hospital staff who received an injection reported mild side effects.
In the United Kingdom, the picture is more complicated. The Washington Post reported that some Britons were canceling and rescheduling vaccination schedules to secure the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine based on rumors and inside information about which centers have which doses.
The vehicle reported that some people insisted on getting the AstraZeneca injection because AstraZeneca is jointly based in the UK and developed its vaccine with the University of Oxford.
A doctor told the BBC on Sunday that, although his medical colleagues had a slight preference for the Pfizer vaccine, his patients tended to prefer the “Britain-made” Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Differences in effectiveness data
The dynamics appear to be shaped by data from phase three trials of both vaccines.
At the end of last year, AstraZeneca announced that its vaccine was 62% effective after two full doses in its test, but 90% effective after half a dose and a full dose, raising questions about its tests, as Insider’s Isabella Jibilian reported.
British regulators now say the vaccine’s effectiveness is 70%, while the European Medicines Agency says it is 60%, the Post reported.
In comparison to the 95% effectiveness that Pfizer found in testing its vaccine, it may appear that the AstraZeneca vaccine does not perform as well.
But Andrew Pollard, a scientist who led the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine, told the Post that the numbers were not directly comparable.
“Unless you run the tests face to face, you really don’t know if a 95 percent number in the test and 62 percent in another one means the same thing,” Pollard told the Post.
The results of a face-to-face test in the UK should be available soon, Sarah Gilbert, another leader in vaccine development, told the Post.
The UK’s Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee, where Pollard is a leading scientist, said the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines “offer very high protection against serious illnesses” and “have good safety profiles”.
Pollard told the Post that he personally “would receive any vaccine offered”.
Real-world data in countries where vaccines were launched, such as Israel and the United Kingdom, are beginning to provide more clarity about vaccine effectiveness.
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