Europe awaits verdict on AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine today

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will announce its verdict on the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine this Thursday afternoon, suspended in several EU countries, while the French government will announce whether or not it decides to reconfigure 12 million inhabitants of Paris and its region.

The opinion of the EMA is eagerly awaited since the European Union, in full shortage of vaccines, has millions of doses of the Swedish-British firm.

Seven European states, including Germany, France and Spain, expanded the list to fifteen countries earlier this week have stopped taking this vaccine because of reactions such as difficulty in clotting or clotting.

The EMA could follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), which on Wednesday recommended to continue using it, especially since its director, Emer Cook, is “firmly convinced” that the benefits l outweigh the risks.

While he hasn’t ruled out the EMA from suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU, in case the issues cannot be resolved, you might just post an “additional warning”added.

The EMA gave the green light on January 29 to this vaccine developed by the Swedish-British laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

Wednesday, WHO has also estimated that “for the moment, the risk / benefit balance is in favor of the AstraZeneca vaccine”, and recommended that “vaccination continue”.

Evidence for many countries which have embarked on a real race against time to stop the virus, such as France or Italy, which are recording an increase in cases of coronavirus.

And to help restore confidence in a vaccine that, according to a survey, only 22% of French people consider reliable., the French Prime Minister, Jean Castex, assured that he was ready to administer it in his turn.

Meanwhile, further restrictions are inevitable as the situation continues to worsen.

“The government has realized that if it does nothing, we are headed for disaster “, warned Professor Rémi Salomon, president of the medical commission of the Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris.

A total lockout or just the weekend for the 12 million inhabitants of Paris and its region?

“We will make the decision that we must“Faced with the epidemic, President Emmanuel Macron responded to health personnel during a visit to a hospital in the Paris region, specifying that the measures will be“ proportionate ”and“ territorialized ”.

Since Tuesday, Jean Castex had clearly indicated that a decision could be taken to reconfigure Paris and your region on weekends or all week, but in principle without school closings.

He will announce the government’s decision at a press conference scheduled for late Thursday afternoon.

All of France is under curfew from 6 p.m. (5:00 p.m. GMT) and some areas are confined on weekends in the north and southeast of the country.

In Germany, affected by a third wave, the government asked the population to be “responsible” and not to go to the Spanish island of Mallorca despite the freight of hundreds of tourist flights.

In Italy, a ceremony to pay tribute to more than 103,000 deaths from the coronavirus will take place on Thursday in Bergamo (north) in the presence of the head of government Mario Draghi.

Brazil on Wednesday recorded a new record of 90,303 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours and added 2,648 deaths, at the height of the pandemic which is already collapsing the health system in much of the country.

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, The South American giant – with 212 million inhabitants – accumulates a total of 11,693,838 infections and 284,775 victims, after several weeks of chaining the cases and the marks of tragic deaths.

And experts warn fierce pandemic rebound could push death toll to 600,000 before vaccines became widespread.

Chile will impose a strict recomposition of the country from this Thursday, while the vaccines have even reached the Chilean base in Antarctica, where about fifty people received the first dose.

The white continent had escaped the pandemic until last December, when an epidemic was detected at a Chilean army base.

In other countries such as the Philippines, the deteriorating health situation has led the authorities to temporarily close their borders to foreigners and reduce the number of nationals allowed to return to the country.

Poland has decreed, for the same reason, a partial confinement of its population.

With information from AFP

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