The UN health agency says there is no causal link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots and is reviewing the data.
The World Health Organization (WHO) supported the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after some European countries stopped its implementations after reports of blood clots forming in several recipients.
“More than 335 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally so far, and no deaths have been found caused by COVID-19 vaccines,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday during an interview. online collective.
At least five European countries, including Denmark, Norway and Iceland, have stopped using a specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a Danish woman died due to blood clots after inoculation. Italy’s drug regulator said it suspended the use of a separate lot after two people died.
However, the European Medical Agency emphasized that the benefits of jabs still outweigh their risks and WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Friday that no causal relationship has been established between the vaccine and coagulation.
“From now on, we are confident that we should move forward,” she said, referring to the use of the AstraZeneca jab.
The WHO also said that a panel of experts is investigating the most recent reports and said that any changes to its current recommendations will be communicated immediately to the public.
Thailand and the Republic of Congo were the first non-European countries to stop firing on Friday.
Congo received 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca through the global vaccine sharing program COVAX on March 2, but has not yet started its inoculation campaign.
WHO Deputy Director-General Mariangela Simão said that AstraZeneca’s batches now under scrutiny were manufactured in Europe, while pharmaceutical vaccines for COVAX were being produced by manufacturers in India and South Korea.
J&J jab granted emergency approval
Separately on Friday, WHO issued a Johnson & Johnson vaccine emergency use list, meaning that injecting a dose can now theoretically be used as part of COVAX’s international effort to distribute vaccines globally, including for poor countries with no supplies.
The emergency use list comes a day after the European Medicines Agency recommended that the injection be given the green light in all 27 countries of the European Union.
A large study that spanned three continents found that the J&J vaccine was 85 percent effective in protecting against serious illness, hospitalization and death. This protection has remained strong even in countries like South Africa, where new variants of the coronavirus have been identified and appear to be less susceptible to other licensed vaccines, including the one made by AstraZeneca.
COVAX previously announced that it had an initial agreement with J&J to supply 500 million doses, but this is not legally binding.
“We hope at least until July to have access to doses that we can launch, if not sooner,” said Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the WHO chief, on Friday.
He added that the authorities are particularly interested in taking doses of J&J to countries because it requires only one dose and can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
J&J has faced production delays in the United States and Europe, but recently signed agreements with rival pharmacists that will help manufacture its vaccine.
In February, Sanofi Pasteur said it would be able to produce about 12 million doses of the J&J vaccine at one of its production sites in France as soon as the injection is released by the EMA. The goal is to make one billion doses this year.