Germany, France and other European nations announced plans to resume using AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday after EU and British regulators moved to shore up confidence in the shot, saying its benefits outweigh the risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reports of rare brain blood clots had prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend use of the shot, the latest challenge for AstraZeneca\u2019s ambition to produce a \u201cvaccine for the world\u201d, as the global death toll from the coronavirus passes 2.8 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The European Medicines Agency\u2019s (EMA) \u201cclear\u201d conclusion following an investigation into 30 cases of unusual blood disorders was that the vaccine\u2019s benefits in protecting people from coronavirus-related death or hospitalisation outweighs the possible risks, though it said a link between blood clots in the brain and the shot could not be definitively ruled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a safe and effective vaccine,\u201d EMA director Emer Cooke told a briefing. \u201cIf it were me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within hours, Germany said it would resume administering the AstraZeneca vaccine from Friday morning. Health Minister Jens Spahn said suspending the vaccine out of caution had been the right call \u201cuntil the clustering of this very rare type of thrombosis had been examined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
France too said it would resume use of the vaccine, with Prime Minister Jean Castex saying he would receive the shot himself on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Italy would do the same, and that his government\u2019s priority remained to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain said it was evaluating a possible resumption, while Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania said they would restart administering the vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many governments had said the decision to pause inoculations was out of an abundance of caution. But experts have warned political interference could undermine public confidence in vaccinations as governments struggle to tame more infectious virus variants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe trust that, after the regulators\u2019 careful decisions, vaccinations can once again resume across Europe,\u201d said AstraZeneca Chief Medical Officer Ann Taylor in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EUROPE LAGS BRITAIN, U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EMA\u2019s review covered 20 million people given the AstraZeneca shot in the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA), which links 30 European countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Safety concerns had led at least 13 European countries to stop administering the shot, slowing an already faltering inoculation campaign in the EU, which lags Britain and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain\u2019s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said earlier that it was investigating five cases of the rare brain blood clot that had been reported out of 11 million shots administered in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said it would investigate reports of clots in the cerebral veins (sinus vein thrombosis, or CSVT) occurring together with lowered platelets soon after vaccination. But the agency said use of the vaccine should continue and one official said Britain\u2019s rollout would likely continue even if a link was proved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AstraZeneca shot was among the first and cheapest of the COVID-19 vaccines to be developed and launched at volume and is set to be the mainstay of vaccination programmes in much of the developing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe EMA\u2019s (verdict) now provides clarity about the safety of this vaccine, which should now be vaccinated at a high rate after this safety stop in order to efficiently prevent the actual risk, i.e. sometimes serious medical harm from Covid-19,\u201d said Clemens Wendtner, head of infectious diseases at Munich clinic Schwabing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drugmaker\u2019s own review covering more than 17 million people who have received its shot in the EU and Britain found no evidence of increased risk of blood clots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Health Organization this week also reaffirmed its support for the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EMA said it would update its guidance on the AstraZeneca vaccine to include an explanation for patients about the potential risks and information for healthcare professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency said it is in touch with regulators around the world to keep tabs on possible side effects of all COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: Reuters<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Germany, France and other European nations announced plans to resume using AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday after EU and British regulators moved to shore up confidence in the shot, saying its benefits outweigh the risks. Reports of rare brain blood clots had prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend use of the shot, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":21261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-regional-and-international-news"],"yoast_head":"\n