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LONDON (AP) – German officials have decided to limit the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in people under the age of 60 after more unusual blood clots were reported in a small number of people who received the injections.
In response, the European medicines regulator reiterated on Wednesday that “There is no evidence that would support restricting the use of this vaccine in any population,” although an expert has said more brain clots are being reported than expected, and is continuing to investigate.
Earlier in March, more than a dozen countries, including Germany, suspended their use of AstraZeneca due to the problem of blood clots. Most restarted – some with the kind of restrictions Germany imposed on Tuesday – after the European Medicines Agency said the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks of not vaccinating people against COVID-19 .
But back and forth in some countries over who can take the vaccine has raised fears that his credibility is permanently damaged.. Here’s a look at what we know – and what we don’t know.
WHAT HAPPENS IN GERMANY?
Earlier this week, the German medical regulator released new data showing an increase in reported cases of unusual types of blood clots in people who have recently received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In response, Health Minister Jens Spahn and state officials agreed to give the vaccine only to people aged 60 or older., unless they are at high risk of developing serious complications from COVID-19 and have agreed to be vaccinated.
“This is to weigh the risk of a side effect that is statistically small, but that should be taken seriously, and the risk of getting sick with corona,” Spahn said.
The German medical regulator said its count of the rare blood clots reported as of March 29 had risen to 31. Some 2.7 million doses of AstraZeneca have been administered in Germany so far. Nine of the people died and all but two cases involved women between the ages of 20 and 63, the Paul Ehrlich Institute said.
Some clots have also been reported elsewhere, among the tens of millions of people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
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WHAT PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS HAVE FOUND?
The EMA’s initial investigation concluded that injecting AstraZeneca did not increase the overall risk of blood clots, but could not rule out a link with rare clots. and recommended that a new warning be added to the vaccine package insert. Shooting is permitted for people 18 years of age and over.
The EMA continues to take a close look at two rare types of blood clots, including one that affects the brain, reported in people who have received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and may update its recommendations for the vaccine next week.
EMA’s Dr Peter Arlett said on Wednesday the agency was seeing “more cases of (brain clots) than we expected to see,” and noted that more younger women had been affected – but it didn’t It was not clear whether this was significant because younger women were also more likely to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe. He did not say how many of these types of clots would typically show up in the general population.
Emer Cooke, the agency’s executive director, said its experts had been unable to identify specific risk factors for those who may be at higher risk for rare clots.
The World Health Organization expert committee also assessed the data available for the AstraZeneca vaccine and said the vaccine was safe and effective. Dr Kate O’Brien, who heads the WHO vaccine department, said on Wednesday they were continuing to review the situation.
It is normal to keep looking for side effects as new vaccines are released, as they are typically tested in tens of thousands of people, but some rare problems may only occur after millions of people have been tested. people received the vaccine.
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How can scientists determine if the vaccine is responsible for rare blood clots?
“The way to know if cases are caused by vaccination is to look to see if there is an excess of cases in people who have been vaccinated,” said Dr Peter English, former chairman of the Medical Committee of British Medical Association Public Health.
It will take some time. It took about a year, for example, before scientists could conclude that a swine flu vaccine was responsible for some cases of narcolepsy in Europe.
Adam Finn, professor of pediatrics at the University of Bristol, said there was not yet convincing evidence that the vaccine is to blame for rare clots.
“The mechanism by which these blood clotting abnormalities occur, and why they affect this very small proportion of people, has still not been properly elucidated,” he said in a statement.
In a statement, AstraZeneca said it was analyzing the tens of millions of records of people who received its vaccine “to understand whether these very rare cases of blood clots … are occurring more frequently than one would naturally expect. for a population of millions of people. “
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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR COVID-19 VACCINATIONS?
This is bad news. Health officials fear that repeated suspensions and restrictions of the AstraZeneca vaccine could undermine confidence in a vaccine that is essential to global efforts to eradicate the pandemic because it is cheaper and easier to store than others.
In Norway, which recently extended its suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine for three weeks, officials say confusion is causing a wave of hesitation over vaccines.
The head of the Norwegian Association of General Practitioners, Marte Kvittum Tangen, told the NRK channel that resuming vaccination with AstraZeneca “will be very difficult if we want the highest possible vaccination coverage in the population in the long term”.
Finn, of the University of Bristol, said the world’s biggest health threat currently is COVID-19 and that any doubt about the effectiveness of licensed coronavirus vaccines is problematic.
“We must remain focused on the need to prevent (COVID-19) from taking millions of more human lives before it is brought under control, and the only effective way to do that is through vaccination,” he said. -he declares.
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Associated Press editors Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
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https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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https://apnews.com/hub/understanding-the-outbreak
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