Are they a panacea or a danger? Doubts and suspicions about coronavirus vaccines grow

The campaign of vaccination against the coronavirus in Europe suffered a new blow this Friday with the announcement of at least two new surveys on the impact of the drug AstraZeneca, as well as that proposed by Johnson & Johnson, on the blood circulation.

The controversy generated by the vaccine AstraZeneca It has led several countries, such as France, to repeatedly modify their rules of use, first because of doubts about its effectiveness and, later, because of the fear that it could be linked to cases detected blood clots.

French Minister of Health Olivier Véran indicated that citizens under the age of 55 who have been vaccinated with a dose of AstraZeneca receive the second dose of a different vaccine.

However, shortly after the minister’s announcement, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that there was no “adequate data” on the effects of switching vaccines between the first and second. dose.

And as the EU continues to grapple with the ongoing setbacks of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Friday that it was investigating a possible link between this serum and an unusual problem with the blood vessels.

As he explained, the agency examines five cases of so-called capillary leak syndrome, characterized by “suppuration of fluid in the blood vessels, which causes capillary swelling and a drop in blood pressure”.

Doubts about the Janssen vaccine

In addition, the European regulator has also said it is investigating possible links between the vaccine from Janssen, a subsidiary of the American company Johnson & Johnson, and blood clots.

According to the EMA, “four serious cases” – one of which was fatal – of unusual blood clots have been reported in people vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson, based on technology similar to that of AstraZeneca.

The two formulas they have been approved by the European Union, but the Janssen vaccine has not yet been deployed and several countries in the bloc have stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine or have restricted its use.

On Friday, AstraZeneca announced that half of vaccine shipments to the EU this week they will be late.

In contrast, the EU plans to negotiate with “a single source” the purchase of 1.8 billion doses of second-generation covid-19 vaccine to deal with future variants of the virus, a source said. Commission to the European AFP.

Shortage in India, the world’s largest vaccine maker

There are also dose shortages in India, home to the world’s largest maker of coronavirus vaccines, particularly in Maharashtra state, where more than 100 million people live, including residents of Mumbai.

“Most hospitals in Bombay are on the verge of running out of stock by the end of the day,” Mangala Gomare, who oversees the megalopolis’ vaccination program, warned on Friday.

For her part, the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg denounced the unequal distribution vaccines in the world and said he would not attend the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow next November because this unequal access to the vaccine does not allow an equitable presence of countries and activists.

According to an AFP tally, more than 733 million doses of the anticovid vaccine have been injected in at least 196 countries and territories.

Unequal distribution

49% were administered in high-income countries, where 16% of the world’s population resides, and only 0.1% was used in the world’s 29 poorest countries (9% of the world’s population).

WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also criticized on Friday the “Shocking imbalance in global vaccine distribution“.

At least 2.9 million people have died from covid-19 worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to the count from Johns Hopkins University in the United States. And more than 134 million people have been infected.

New restrictions to fight the virus

But with a stumbling vaccination campaign, governments are trying to stop the spread of the virus by limiting mobility and contact between citizens.

The German government will adopt a plan to toughen health legislation against covid-19 and will be able to impose measures at the national level, to overcome regional or local resistance.

Japan has also stepped up anti-pandemic measures, in the capital Tokyo and elsewhere, urging bars to close earlier.

Source: AFP

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