LONDON (AP) – Experts from the European Medicines Agency are preparing to present on Tuesday the findings of their investigation into possible links between the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and very rare cases of unusual coagulation disorders detected in the US
Last week, J&J stopped the European launch of the single-dose vaccine after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that officials stop using it while the rare cases of blood clots are examined. Officials identified six very unusual cases of blood clots among nearly 7 million people who received the vaccine in the United States
Johnson & Johnson advised European governments to store their doses until the EU drug regulator issues guidelines on their use; widespread use of the shot in Europe has not yet begun.
The delay once again meant vaccination efforts in the European Union, which have been affected by supply shortages, logistical problems and concerns about unusual blood clots also in a small number of people who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. . Experts are concerned that the temporary halt in J&J firing could shake vaccine confidence and complicate global COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
Last week, South Africa suspended vaccine use following a break in the United States and countries such as Italy, Romania, the Netherlands, Denmark and Croatia stored their doses of J&J.
Blood clots related to the J&J vaccine occur in unusual parts of the body, such as veins that drain blood from the brain. These patients also have abnormally low levels of blood platelets, a condition usually associated with bleeding and not clotting.
With the AstraZeneca vaccine, scientists in Norway and Germany have suggested that some people experience an abnormal response of the immune system, forming antibodies that attack their own platelets.
It is not yet clear if a similar mechanism may exist with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But both the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines, as well as a Russian COVID-19 vaccine and one from China, are made with the same technology. They train the immune system to recognize the spike protein that coats the coronavirus. To do this, they use a cold virus, called an adenovirus, to carry the ear gene to the body.
“The suspicion arises that these rare cases may be triggered by the adenovirus component of the AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines,” said Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh. He said that while more data was needed, “it remains the case that for the vast majority of adults in Europe and the United States, the risks associated with contracting COVID-19 far outweigh the risks of get vaccinated. “
On Monday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week more than 5 million new cases of cororavirus were confirmed worldwide, the highest figure in a single week. He noted that cases and hospitalizations among the youngest were “increasing at an alarming rate”.
The European Medicines Agency, which regulates medicines used in EU member states, said last month that there was a “possible link” between the AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots, but said the benefits of vaccination far outweighed the risks of COVID-19. It was noted that the risk is lower than the risk of blood clot faced by healthy women due to birth control pills.
The European Union has ordered 200 million doses of Johnson & Johnson by 2021 and EU officials hoped the single vaccine could be used both to increase the continent’s backward vaccination rates and to protect hard-to-reach populations, such as migrant and homeless workers.
Last month, the African Union announced it had signed an agreement to buy up to 400 million doses of the J&J vaccine. Johnson & Johnson also has an agreement to supply up to 500 million doses to the UN-backed COVAX initiative, which helps vaccine the world’s poor.
Any concern about the J&J vaccine would be another unwanted complication for COVAX and for the billions of people in developing countries under the program. COVAX has recently been hit by supply problems after its largest supplier, the Serum Institute of India, announced it would delay exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine for several months due to a wave of cases in the subcontinent.