Germany, Italy and France suspend AstraZeneca shootings amid security fears, altering EU vaccinations

BERLIN / GENEVA (Reuters) – Germany, France and Italy said on Monday they would pause firing on AstraZeneca COVID-19 after several countries reported possible serious side effects, triggering the already struggling vaccination campaign. Europe.

Denmark and Norway stopped firing last week after reporting isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit and Ireland and the Netherlands announced suspensions on Sunday.

Spain will stop using the vaccine for at least 15 days, as reported by Cadena Ser radio, which cites unnamed sources.

The movements of some of the largest and most populous countries in Europe will deepen concern about the slow deployment of vaccines in the region, which has been affected by shortages due to vaccine production problems, including that of AstraZeneca.

Germany warned last week that it was facing a third wave of infections, Italy is stepping up closures and hospitals in the Paris region are about to be overloaded.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that while the risk of blood clots was low, it could not be ruled out.

“This is a professional decision, not a political one,” said Spahn, who added that he was following a recommendation from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, a German vaccine regulator.

France said it was suspending vaccine use pending the EU drug regulator being evaluated on Tuesday. Italy said its shutdown was a “precautionary and temporary measure” pending the regulator’s resolution.

Austria and Spain have stopped using private batches and prosecutors in the Piedmont region of northern Italy have previously confiscated 393,600 doses after the death of a man hours after the vaccine. It was the second region to do so after Sicily, where two people had died shortly after receiving the shots.

The World Health Organization has called on countries not to suspend vaccines against a disease that has caused more than 2.7 million deaths worldwide. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there were systems in place to protect public health.

“This does not necessarily mean that these events are related to COVID-19 vaccination, but it is a routine practice to investigate them and demonstrate that the surveillance system works and that there are effective controls,” Tedros said during a briefing. virtual in Geneva.

He said a meeting of the advisory committee on AstraZeneca will be held on Tuesday.

The UK said it had no concerns, while Poland said it believes the benefits outweigh the risks.

The EMA has said that, as of March 10, a total of 30 cases of blood clotting had been reported among nearly 5 million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca in the European Economic Area. , which unites 30 European countries.

Michael Head, a senior researcher in global health at the University of Southampton, said the decisions by France, Germany and others seemed baffling.

“The data we have suggest that the number of adverse events related to blood clots is the same (and possibly, in fact, lower) in vaccinated groups compared to unvaccinated populations,” he said, and add that stopping a vaccination program had consequences.

“This translates into delays in protecting people and the potential for increased hesitation, as a result of people who have seen the headlines and understandably worry. There are still no data signs that really justify it. these decisions “.

The director general of the Italian medical agency Aifa, Nicola Magrini, told a radio station that several European countries preferred to suspend the vaccine “in the presence of some very recent cases and very few adverse events” in women and teens.

“… Those who have already had the vaccine can and should remain safe,” he said. “I want to say the vaccine is safe, even after reviewing all the data.”

“Unusual” SYMPTOMS

The AstraZeneca shot was one of the first and cheapest to be developed and launched at high volume since the coronavirus was first identified in central China in late 2019 and is believed to be the mainstay of the programs. vaccination in most developing countries.

Thailand on Monday announced plans to continue firing the Anglo-Swedish firm after suspending its use on Friday, but Indonesia said it would wait for the WHO to report.

The WHO said its advisory panel was reviewing reports related to the shooting and would release its findings as soon as possible. But he said they are unlikely to change their recommendations, issued last month, for widespread use, including countries where the South African variant of the virus may reduce its effectiveness.

The EMA also said there were no indications that the events were caused by vaccination and that the number of blood clots reported was not higher than seen in the general population.

The handful of side effects reported in Europe have upset vaccination programs that are already under pressure from the slow spending and skepticism of the vaccine in some countries.

The Netherlands said on Monday it had seen ten cases of possible notable adverse side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine, hours after the government suspended its vaccination program following reports of possible side effects in other countries.

Denmark reported “highly unusual” symptoms in a 60-year-old citizen who died from a blood clot after receiving the vaccine, the same phrase Norway used on Saturday about three people under the age of 50 who were treated at the hospital.

“It was an unusual course of illness around death that made the Danish Medicines Agency react,” the agency said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.

One of the three health workers hospitalized in Norway after receiving the AstraZeneca shot had died, health authorities said on Monday, but there was no evidence that the vaccine was the cause.

AstraZeneca previously said it had conducted a review of more than 17 million vaccinated people in the European Union and the UK, which had shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

Independent monitors are currently reviewing the expected results of the U.S. AstraZeneca vaccine test with 30,000 people to determine if the shot is safe and effective, a senior U.S. official said Monday.