Italy, France and Germany to resume COVID-19 vaccination with AstraZeneca formula on Friday

Italy, France and Germany will resume their coronavirus vaccination campaign on Friday with the AstraZeneca formula, after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) indicated that the immunizer is “safe and effective”. Spain, meanwhile, will do so from next week.

“The Italian government welcomes the statements of the EMA (European Medicines Agency). The supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine will resume from tomorrow ”, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in a statement.

“The priority of the government remains to carry out the greatest number of vaccinations as soon as possible”, declared the president.

The Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) confirmed this Thursday that “the reasons for the preventive ban on the use of batches of vaccines, issued on March 15, 2021, no longer exist”, after listening to the Minister of Health, the Directorate-General for Prevention and the Higher Health Council.

From tomorrow the vaccination campaign will resume in Italy “completely”, and when the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) publishes the approval of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, AIFA will revoke the ban on its use.

Italy has already reached 7,204,358 inoculated doses against the coronavirus, while 2,225,652 people have been immunized with the two needed.

For his part, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced that the French health regulator would update its advice on Friday following the EMA’s announcement on the AstraZeneca vaccine.

As he had advanced this week, Castex reiterated that he will receive the immunizer from the British laboratory to raise awareness and bring peace of mind to the population: “I will be vaccinated with this vaccine to show that we can do it fully. trust.”

On Thursday, the EMA reported that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective” and Not “associated” with an increased risk of blood clots, after several European Union (EU) countries suspended its use as a precautionary measure.

“The committee came to a clear scientific conclusion: this is a safe and effective vaccine,” Emer Cooke, director of the Amsterdam-based EMA, told a press conference. “Its benefits for protecting people from Covid-19 along with the associated risks of death and hospitalization outweigh the possible risks.”

“The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an overall increased risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots,” Cooke noted. And I add: “If it was me, they would vaccinate me tomorrow.”

However, EMA said it ‘couldn’t rule out’ a link with a particularly rare type of bleeding disorder and update vaccine information.

In this regard, the doctor Sabine straus, chairman of the EMA’s vaccine safety committee, said that after investigating individual cases of thromboembolic events in Europe, no increased risk was determined. In fact, he said the vaccine likely reduces the likelihood of these events. He also pointed out that while a causal link between the vaccine and thrombus formation cannot yet be determined, these events were extremely rare in around 20 million people vaccinated.

“At the moment, this is just speculation”Straus said.

The European regulator also found “no evidence of a quality or batch problem,” Straus said.

Germany will also resume its campaign on Friday, Health Minister Jens Spahn confirmed. “The common goal of the federal government and the 16 states is to resume vaccinations tomorrow with AstraZeneca [viernes]”, He said.

Spain will do it next week. The head of the health portfolio, Carolina Darias, told a press conference that people would likely be inoculated with the formula next Wednesday.

As more studies are conducted, a warning will be added to the patient’s package leaflet for the vaccine, with a description of these cases. “This information should be provided to health professionals and the public.… [junto con] signs and symptoms of concern so that early action can be taken to mitigate these risks, ”Straus noted.

About 15 countries, including Germany, Spain, France and Italy, suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution on Tuesday after blood clots were reported in people vaccinated.

The authorities of these countries have decided to await the opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which reached the “scientific conclusion” on Thursday that it is a “safe and effective” vaccine.

With information from AFP and EFE

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