Unions of health workers in Europe say thousands of their members are refusing to take any of the region’s three Covid-19 vaccines due to concerns about efficacy and reports of side effects, the latest setback to the slow rollout of vaccines on the continent.
Organizations representing health professionals across Europe said this week that doctors and nurses should not be forced to use the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca PLC as it has been shown to provide less robust protection against Covid-19 than the other two currently in the European Union are approved. They also expressed concern about reports that the AstraZeneca vaccine appeared to cause stronger responses in the recipients.
Hospitals said hundreds of health workers scheduled to receive the vaccines had failed to show up for their appointments in recent days, while many who received the injection called in sick after reporting painful headaches, fever, and other symptoms.
Politicians and scientists this week insisted that the AstraZeneca shot has been proven to be safe and that not using it would undermine the fight against the pandemic in Europe. The vaccine showed efficacy of approximately 62% in the results of late-stage clinical studies reported last year. Further data suggested that the overall effectiveness was about 70% when the doses were spaced longer. That compared to an effectiveness of more than 90% in trials with competing vaccines. However, trials with all approved vaccines, including those from AstraZeneca, showed that they provided 100% protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death.
A spokesman for AstraZeneca, which has co-developed its vaccine with the University of Oxford, said: “Our vaccine has been approved in more than 50 countries on four continents. There are no confirmed serious side effects related to vaccination, ”said the spokesman.