The Hague.
He had received an injection of AstraZeneca, but refused for fear of developing blood clotting. Now he is fighting for his life in a Dutch hospital, on artificial respiration. It is the tragic story of a covid-19 patient with whom doctors in the Netherlands demand that all available vaccines be used.
The open letter from these Dutch health workers, accompanied by an X-ray of their patient’s lungs that does not remain indifferent, is addressed to the acting Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge, in a criticism of the discontinuation of use by Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and the age restrictions imposed on the use of AstraZeneca.
“Today, the first patient who refused to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine was admitted to our hospital after all the commotion in the press. We hear the enormous regret in his voice and the despair in his eyes. The virus attacked him and it could have been prevented. We share your lung scan with your permission. You don’t have to be a specialist in lungs neither to acknowledge the devastation nor an epidemiologist to explain the risks of non-vaccination, ”they warned.
The Netherlands has stockpiled 80,000 doses of Janssen since Monday pending a scientific recommendation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on its safety and possible relationship with six cases of unusual blood clotting in the United States, the only country to have already used this single. dose of vaccine.
In addition, and after the EMA warned of a ‘possible link’ of AstraZeneca with dozens of cases of very rare thromboembolism in people receiving the injection, the Netherlands decided to use it only in people over 60 years old, an age group where this is willing has shown fewer instances of this adverse effect.
After the discussions about AstraZeneca and the differences that European countries have shown on whether or not to continue the vaccination with this preparation, 42% of the over-60s are still not vaccinated in The Netherlands they refused to receive this vaccine, according to an I&O study commissioned by the NOS.
The signatories to the letter published this Friday, employees of the Zuyderland Medical Center, in the southeast of the Netherlands, have warned that “the risk of serious harm from Covid-19 is ten times higher for people over the age of 40 and 70 times greater for those aged 60 years, then the risk of serious damage from thrombosis ”from the vaccine.
“To date, we have cared for over 3,000 coronavirus patients and while (you) speak to experts about reopening society to provide perspective, we are still seeing the tremendous impact of this disease on a daily basis,” they complained.
The Executive Dutch presented a plan last Tuesday to “ responsibly reopen society ” in the coming weeks and end curfews by April 28, but it has conditioned it to contain a third wave of infections being unleashed because what this promise is, runs the risk of not being fulfilled until May.
This approach has been strongly criticized by those working on the front lines against Covid-19. “Workers rightly wonder why they should continue to provide care without adequate protection while vaccines are waiting in the refrigerator,” they denounced.
These doctors are demanding that the minister “stop delaying (vaccination) and be concerned” and reminded him that “the numbers show that the benefits of mass vaccination are overwhelming and don’t lie.”
“Let people choose whether to avoid a situation like our patient,” they urged and asked to make available “AstraZenecaJanssen or another vaccine ”and they, like the parliamentary majority, advocated“ voluntary informed consent vaccination ”.
In addition, as a conclusion to their letter, they threatened the doses of AstraZeneca which they have in the refrigerator with hospital staff and doctors from Monday, warning that they are no longer “voluntarily and knowingly cooperating in avoidable harm” from vaccination.