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OTTAWA – Canadian officials on Monday recommended that AstraZeneca PLC Covid-19 vaccine be discontinued to people under the age of 55 in light of evidence from Europe on potentially serious side effects targeting younger women.
The shift in focus marked a sea change on the part of Canadian health officials, who so far have said the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for people of all ages – a point they made earlier. this month when European governments suspended use of the vaccine amid concerns about blood clotting. . It also marks the latest setback for the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, which has faced refusal from governments, regulators and the public over its vaccine rollout.
Health Canada, the country’s drug regulator, has ordered AstraZeneca to conduct a detailed risk-benefit analysis of the vaccine by age and gender. The information, officials said, would help determine whether specific demographic groups might be at higher risk.
Canadian officials said the shift in focus on AstraZeneca stems from the emergence of additional reports of blood clotting in people who received the vaccine in Europe. Some European cases were examined in a recent preprinted research article that looked at nine patients in Germany and Austria. The results of the pre-print were first reported by researchers earlier this month.
The preprinted research looked at nine patients aged 22 to 49 who had developed thrombosis, which occurs when a blood clot forms inside a blood vessel, starting four to 16 days after receiving the drug. AstraZeneca vaccine. Eight of the patients were women. Four of the nine patients died.
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