KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – The suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several European countries over the past week could fuel skepticism about shooting far beyond its shores, and could threaten the deployment of a vaccine that is key to to the global strategy to eliminate the coronavirus pandemic, especially in developing nations.
As things stand, it’s AstraZeneca or nothing for some poorer countries. The vaccine from the Anglo-Swedish drug manufacturer is cheaper and easier to store than many others. It will constitute almost all doses sent during the first half of the year by COVAX, a consortium designed to ensure that low- and middle-income countries receive vaccines.
With little choice, most developing countries that had AstraZeneca on hand pushed ahead, even when major European countries suspended its use. over the past week, following reports that unusual blood clots were found in some recipients of the shot, despite insistence from international health agencies that there was no evidence that the vaccine was responsible.
But while governments in Africa and other countries have expressed their determination to continue using the shot, not everyone is convinced.
“Why should I be allowed to be used? Aren’t we human beings like those in Europe?” Peter Odongo, a resident of a northern Ugandan city, told the Daily Monitor this week.
The East African country has received 864,000 doses of AstraZeneca through COVAX so far, but had administered less than 3,000 on Tuesday. Authorities blamed the logistical challenges of transporting vaccines to the country, but newspaper reports cite resistance to the vaccine.
Even before the last debate on AstraZeneca, vaccine skepticism had been a worldwide concern, as many people doubted the traits developed in record time. African countries have faced particular obstacles on a continent wary of being a testing ground for the West. Some leaders have backed down against skepticism, while others, such as those in Burundi and Tanzania, have fed it by seemingly denying the seriousness of COVID-19.
“Unfortunate events” in Europe “clearly will not be useful for our public confidence, in creating public confidence and confidence in the use of this particular vaccine and other vaccines safely,” John Nkengasong , director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters on Thursday as he encouraged African countries to continue their vaccinations.
This happened hours before the European Union’s drug regulator gave the same message to its 27 members. The European Medicines Agency said its experts concluded that the vaccine it is not related to an overall increased risk of blood clots, although it could not definitively rule out a link to rare types of clots and the vaccine. In response, countries such as Italy, France and Germany announced that they would resume the use of the shot.
Even before these setbacks, several developing nations had said they would stick to the shot.
“We will continue the inoculations,” said Lia Tadesse, Ethiopia’s health minister, who received 2.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week.
Authorities in India, home to the vaccine maker that is likely to produce much of the doses to the developing world, said Wednesday they would continue AstraZeneca inoculations with “full vigor” as infections jumped to various parts of the country. After initially saying it would delay vaccine use, Thailand said on Tuesday it would continue with AstraZeneca and the prime minister even received his shot in public.
Brazilian state institute Fiocruz on Wednesday delivered the first shots of bottled AstraZeneca in Brazil, while the Ministry of Health tried to dispel concerns about reports of blood clots, and urged calm.
Very few developing countries resisted the trend. Congo, for example, stopped using AstraZeneca and suspended its vaccination campaign even before it started, as it has no dose of anything else. Indonesia also initially stopped the shooting, but later said on Friday it would resume it.
European and other rich countries have several vaccines to choose from, but AstraZeneca is currently the key point in the strategy to vaccinate the rest of the world. Some developing countries have received doses of Chinese- or Russian-made vaccines, often as donations, but, at least in Africa, these distributions are usually relatively small. Chinese and Russian vaccines have not yet been approved by the WHO and therefore cannot be distributed by COVAX.
Africa, with a population of 1.3 billion, expects to vaccinate 60% of its population by the end of 2022. This goal will almost certainly not be met without the widespread use of AstraZeneca. And experts have warned that until vaccination rates are high worldwide, the virus remains a threat everywhere.
Confidence in the erosion of the AstraZeneca vaccine only exacerbates the difficulties Africa will face in developing its inoculation campaigns. The continent has some of the weakest health systems in the world. The nations there have struggled just to test the coronavirus with enough people and the actual toll is not known because of the challenges in tracking cases and deaths. According to the CDC in Africa, more than 4 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed across the continent, including more than 108,000 deaths.
In an analysis released on Thursday, the World Bank found that 85% of low- and middle-income countries had a plan to be vaccinated, but less than a third had public engagement strategies to combat hesitation and misinformation about vaccines.
This means that the confusion as caused by the break in AstraZeneca across Europe can be difficult to resolve.
“It complicates the situation,” Dr. Misaki Wayengera, head of a technical working group advising on the response to the Uganda pandemic, referring to the suspension. “It’s the best shot we have here and we should be able to do it.”
The blow to public confidence was felt in countries like Somalia, which began vaccination on Tuesday, but where some said they were not interested in firing the AstraZeneca while many in Europe did not use it.
“This vaccination makes no sense when EU countries” have suspended its use, Abdulkadir Osman said. “We can’t just trust it.”
In Rwanda, which received 240,000 doses of AstraZeneca and just over 102,000 from the Pfizer vaccine, Justin Gatsinzi said he was initially reluctant to receive the shot, but gave in for fear of being denied some public services if he refused.
“In fact, it’s very complicated,” Gatsinzi, a teacher, said, adding that he was not told what vaccine he had.
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Associated Press journalists David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Ignatius Ssuuna in Kigali, Rwanda, Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Somalia, Lori Hinnant in Paris and Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.