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HEALTH-VIRUS,NEWSERIES
Irish, Dutch halt AstraZeneca jabs as Italy gets set for curbs
DUBLIN, March 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Ireland and the Netherlands on Sunday
became the latest countries to suspend their rollouts of AstraZeneca jabs
over concerns about post-jab blood clots despite the firm insisting there was
no risk, as most Italians were bracing for a new round of restrictions.
Vaccinations are a key tool to end the worst of a pandemic that has killed
more than 2.6 million people since it emerged in China in late 2019.
So far more than 350 million doses have been doled out across the world,
but countries including Denmark, Norway and Bulgaria suspended the rollout of
jabs from the Anglo/Swedish pharma giant this week after reports of blood
clots developing in patients who had received the shot.
The World Health Organization, Europe’s medicines watchdog, governments and
experts have stressed that no causal link has been established between the
vaccine and blood clotting and insisted that the shot is safe.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said it had found no evidence of increased risk of
blood clot conditions after analysing reported cases from more than 17
million doses.
“In fact, the reported numbers of these types of events for COVID-19
Vaccine AstraZeneca are lower than the number that would have occurred
naturally in the unvaccinated population,” said the spokesman.
AstraZeneca’s shot is among the cheapest available and forms a bulk of
deliveries to poorer nations under the WHO-backed Covax initiative, which
aims to ensure vaccines get to all parts of the globe.
– ‘We must have confidence’ –
A spokesman for Ireland’s health ministry told AFP that the rollout had
been “temporarily deferred” after the country’s advisory panel recommended a
suspension because of concerns raised by Norwegian officials.
The Dutch health ministry similarly said it was suspending the rollout as a
precaution.
Norwegian officials said on Saturday the country had reports of people
“bleeding under the skin” and “severe cases of blood clots or brain
haemorrhages in younger people” who had received the shot.
AstraZeneca became embroiled in a bitter row with European leaders earlier
in the year when it announced it would not be able to supply the number of
doses it had promised.
Since then, European leaders have bitterly criticised the company and cast
doubt on the vaccine’s efficacy while at the same time blocking some exports
of doses to destinations outside the European Union.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex, however, defended his country’s decision
to carry on with the AstraZeneca jab saying on Sunday France had found no
reason to suspend the rollout. “At this stage, we must have confidence in
this vaccine,” he said, highlighting instead the danger of leaving large
sections of the population unprotected from Covid.
France is facing a hospital crisis with intensive care beds in the Paris
region running out and patients having to be taken to other parts of the
country.
– ‘Vulnerable family’ –
While France is hoping to avoid being plunged back into a national
lockdown, neighbouring Italy is set to reimpose restrictions across most of
the nation on Monday — a year after it became the first European nation to
face a major outbreak.
Schools, restaurants, shops and museums will close with Health Minister
Roberto Speranza saying he hoped the measures and vaccination programme would
allow restrictions to be relaxed in the second half of spring.
“Each dose of vaccine injected is a step in the direction of the way out of
the crisis,” he said on Sunday.
Across the world, businesses and families are still counting the cost of
the lockdowns and other measures that have left millions without jobs — and
forced others to carry on working even if they feel they are lacking
protection.
Matt Valentin in the US told AFP his job in a Michigan state cafe became an
increasingly anxiety-ridden environment.
“It went from ‘get these drinks and orders done as fast as possible’ to ‘do
all of that, and try not to bring a deadly virus home to your vulnerable
family,'” the 21-year-old told AFP.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0849 hrs