A vial of the Oxford University / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is seen at the Lochee Health Center in Dundee, Scotland, UK on January 4, 2021.
Andy Buchanan | Swimming pool | Reuters
LONDON – France and Italy say they are ready to restart vaccination programs with the AstraZeneca vaccine soon if regulators confirm it is still safe to use.
The European Medicines Agency’s preliminary statement on Tuesday was “encouraging,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said in a statement Tuesday after a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron. It added that in the event of a positive conclusion from the EMA, France and Italy were willing to “restart immediately” vaccinations.
The two countries are among more than a dozen that suspended the AstraZeneca-Oxford University shot after reports of blood clots in some vaccinated citizens.
Concerns about possible side effects from the vaccine surfaced last week after a woman died in Austria. Since then, more countries have reported cases of blood clots and an unusual platelet count in a few patients. AstraZeneca said on Sunday that of the 17 million people vaccinated in the EU and the UK, there have been 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism, according to data received up to March 8.
We still firmly believe that the benefits … outweigh the risk of these side effects.
Emer Cooke
Executive Director at EMA
European health authorities still believe the shot is useful in the fight against Covid-19. The EMA said Tuesday that there is “no indication” so far that the reports of blood clots were directly caused by the vaccine.
“We still firmly believe that the benefits … outweigh the risk of these side effects,” said Emer Cooke, EMA’s executive director, at a news conference.
She confirmed that the facility is studying 30 reports of unusual blood disorders and that it will announce the outcome of this work Thursday.
A group of EU countries, including Belgium and Poland, have continued to administer the AstraZeneca image. The European countries that have suspended the vaccine are waiting for the EMA’s announcement to decide how to proceed.
In the meantime, the EMA is “concerned that there may be an effect on the confidence of the vaccines,” Cooke said Tuesday.
The EU vaccination program has faced several hurdles. Public doubts about the safety of vaccines could derail the EU’s main goal of vaccinating 70% of the adult population by the end of the summer.
Stella Kyriakides, the EU health commissioner, said on Tuesday that “it is crucial that citizens can feel they have the confidence and confidence in the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency so that we can fight this virus together. “
As of Monday, more than 6 million EU citizens had received the AstraZeneca vaccine from more than 46 million vaccinations, according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
The European Commission also urged member states on Tuesday to use every vaccination dose they have access to.
ECDC data shows that more than 62 million doses have been distributed to Member States, indicating that almost 20 million doses have already been administered.
‘AstraZeneca has unfortunately underproduced’
The EU was at odds with AstraZeneca after the company announced lower-than-expected delivery targets. The pharmaceutical company has cut its first quarter delivery figures twice and has said it will deliver less than half of what the EU expected for the second quarter as well.
AstraZeneca has said that issues with yields in EU factories have caused the delays in production.
On Wednesday, von der Leyen said, “AstraZeneca has unfortunately delivered too little and too little and this has, of course, painfully reduced the speed of the vaccination campaign.”
In contrast, the head of the EU commission said that “BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna are honoring their contracts”.