THE HAGUE, March 19, 2021 (AFP) – Leading EU countries said Thursday they
would resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after the European medical regulator
said the jab is “safe and effective” and not associated with a higher blood
clot risk after days of commotion around the shot.
The closely-watched announcement from the European Medicines Agency (EMA)
came after the WHO and Britain’s health watchdog both said the vaccine was
safe, adding that it was far riskier to not get the shot as several countries
face a worrying rise in coronavirus cases.
After the EMA’s announcement a raft of European countries said they would
soon resume vaccinations, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
France on Thursday became the latest nation to toughen Covid restrictions,
announcing a month-long limited lockdown for Paris and several other regions
to try and stave off a third wave of infections that has overwhelmed
hospitals.
The EMA’s chief Emer Cooke said Thursday that after an investigation into
the AstraZeneca jab, its “committee has come to a clear scientific
conclusion: this is a safe and effective vaccine”.
“The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an
increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots,” she
added.
However, the agency said it “cannot rule out definitively” a link to a rare
clotting disorder.
The UK health regulator also said there were no links between blood clots
and the Pfizer vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) repeated that it was better to take the
AstraZeneca vaccine than not.
AstraZeneca’s chief medical officer Ann Taylor said that “vaccine safety is
paramount and we welcome the regulators’ decisions which affirm the
overwhelming benefit of our vaccine in stopping the pandemic”.
However Norway and Sweden said they were not ready to resume using the
vaccine.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said it “took note” of the EMA’s
ruling, but it was “premature” to draw conclusions and it would announce its
own opinion by the end of next week.
– Paris lockdown –
The furore around the jab has marred the global vaccine drive aimed at
ending a pandemic that has killed more than 2.6 million people, and comes as
several countries report jumps in new cases.
After recording its highest daily caseload in nearly four months on
Wednesday, France said it would impose a limited lockdown in the Paris region
from Friday at midnight.
The measures fall short of a full-blown lockdown, but will see non-
essential shops closed and outdoor movement restricted in the affected
regions, while schools are to stay open.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced the new measures as well as
saying he would get the AstraZeneca vaccine “to show that we can have
complete confidence in it”.
Bulgaria and Ukraine also readied for tougher restrictions to stem rising
cases, while the WHO issued a grim update on ballooning infections in Central
Europe and the Balkans.
– ‘Italy’s Wuhan’ –
So far, more than 400 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been
administered globally, mostly in wealthier nations that have secured
contracts with drug makers.
AstraZeneca’s shot, among the cheapest available and easier to store and
transport than some of its rivals, has been billed as the vaccine of choice
for poorer nations.
It is currently a vital part of Covax, which was set up to procure Covid-19
vaccines and ensure their equitable distribution around the world.
But countries ranging from France to Venezuela and Indonesia paused the
rollout of the AstraZeneca jab after a small number of reports emerged of
blood clots among people who had received the vaccine.
France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune defended the decision taken by
countries to suspend use of the vaccine and refer it to the EMA for safety
checks, telling AFP it was “necessary in order to coordinate and remove the
doubts”.
In Britain, which did not halt the jab, officials insisted that an expected
vaccine shortfall at the end of the month would not scupper plans to ease its
virus restrictions in the coming months as the government has promised.
US President Joe Biden meanwhile said his goal of getting 100 million
vaccine doses administered in his first 100 days in office will be met on
Friday — far in advance of the original target.
The US, which has yet to approve the AstraZeneca vaccine, also said it
would send millions of doses to its neighbours Mexico and Canada, which have
approved the jab.
Italy, the first European country to become engulfed by the pandemic, held
a national day of mourning Thursday, with a ceremony in Bergamo, the northern
city that became known as “Italy’s Wuhan” — the Chinese city where the first
Covid-19 cases were identified.
Italy chose March 18 for the memorial to coincide with the day in 2020 when
the army had to step in to carry away scores of coffins from Bergamo’s
overwhelmed crematorium.
Images of coffin-laden camouflaged trucks crossing the city at night
quickly became one of the symbols of the pandemic and still haunt the country
today.
“We cannot hug each other, but this is the day in which we must all feel
even closer,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said.