GERMANY became the world’s largest country to suspend the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine following reports of blood clots in people who were inoculated, reports the Washington Post Monday, while also reporting that the World Health Organization and European regulators have continued to express confidence in the vaccine’s safety.
The paper quoted Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn, stating at a news conference that the decision was a precautionary measure following the detection of seven cases of blood clots in the brain, out of 1.6 million people who have received the vaccine in the country.
France and Italy also announced Monday that they would suspend the use of the vaccine out of an abundance of caution while awaiting an analysis from the European Medicines Agency, which is expected to be finalized this week.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca said late Sunday that there is no scientific evidence of any link between its coronavirus vaccine and recent deaths in Europe from blood clots. The rate of blood clots in people who have been inoculated with the vaccine is “much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population,” the company said in a statement.
“We are all aware of the far-reaching consequences of this decision,” Spahn said of the halt. German health authorities recommended that anyone who has not felt well for more than four days after receiving the jab to seek medical advice.
The vaccine, developed alongside Britain’s Oxford University, has yet to be approved in the United States and has struggled to build confidence around its product in Europe. Its trial data was criticized, while several European countries did not initially approve it for use among people over 65.
The World Health Organization and European regulators have continued to express confidence in its safety. Spahn said European regulators would now have to decide whether new information would impact the vaccine’s authorization.
Nigeria On Tuesday, March 4, 2021 received 3.92 million doses of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. It is the first shipment for the over 16 million doses allocated to the country through the COVAX Facility, aimed at vaccinating 20% of the population.
Nigeria is expected to receive an additional 42 million doses of approved vaccines through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, but details on the timeline of shipments are not yet clear.
According to government officials, the received doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are undergoing final assessment by Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, although the President Buhari, Vice President Osinbajo and top government officials and health workers have since been inoculated.
World Health Organization officials said Monday that they continue to recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite several countries halting its use because of blood-clot concerns.
Speaking during a news briefing, they said the agency is closely monitoring the data, with additional information expected as soon as Tuesday, and has not found a link between clotting and inoculation. They noted that the rate of clots is not higher among those who received the AstraZeneca shot — instead, it is actually less than what would be expected in the general population.
“I think that while we need to continue to be very closely monitoring this, we do not want people to panic,” said World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan. “And we would for the time being recommend countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca.”
She and other WHO officials said the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks, noting that the coronavirus has killed millions around the globe. They described the suspension of the AstraZeneca shot’s use, a step taken by countries including Germany and France after recent deaths from blood clots in Europe, as precautionary measures.
WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said it is “routine practice” to investigate adverse outcomes that follow vaccination, adding that the agency’s advisory committee on vaccine safety has been reviewing the data and plans to meet Tuesday.
But, he said, “the greatest threat that most countries face right now is lack of access to vaccines.” He said he receives near-daily calls from political leaders around the world asking when their countries will receive vaccines through Covax, a WHO-linked global initiative to equitably distribute doses.
“Some of them are frustrated, and I understand why,” he said. “They see some of the world’s richest countries buying enough vaccine to immunize their populations several times over, while their own countries have nothing.”
