Is the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca against COVID-19 dangerous? For a week now, several countries have suspended the serum after detecting serious blood problems in some vaccinated people. But nothing indicates a cause-and-effect relationship, and the prompt reactions of health authorities in several countries have divided medical professionals, AFP reported on Monday, quoted by Agerpres.
“It makes no sense to stop vaccination,” Bruno Riou, a director at the Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP), told France Inter on Monday. “It’s like saying, ‘There was a car accident with a vaccinated person, from now on we will ban driving or suppress vaccination,'” the French specialist added.
However, for a week, there has been almost no day without a country suspending the anti-COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca. The measure targets either a part of the existing batches of vaccine on the market or is total and blocks the entire use of this vaccine on the national territory.
Austria launched the “move” on March 8, suspending a batch of vaccines after the death of a nurse who had received a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine. The 49-year-old woman died of poor blood clotting. Since then, other countries, including Italy, have suspended isolated lots.
Several Scandinavian countries – Denmark, Norway, Iceland – went even further and suspended all AstraZeneca vaccines, followed by the Netherlands on Sunday.
Germany, followed by France and Italy, are the latest countries to adopt such a measure on Monday, “as a precaution”, after signaling side effects.
Outside Europe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and Thailand have postponed the launch of vaccination campaigns.
Every time, health authorities react to the occurrence of such cases, in their countries or abroad, where vaccinated people develop sometimes deadly blood problems. It is either about coagulation difficulties, as in Austria, or about the formation of blood clots (thrombosis).
But the relevant authorities have acknowledged one thing: there is no proven link between these health problems and the AstraZeneca vaccine, except for a chronological sequence. If the vaccine is suspended, the decision is made so that the experts have the necessary time to ensure that such a causal relationship does not exist.
This is a classic precautionary principle, which enjoys the support of some researchers.
“When we use a relatively recent product, as are all these new vaccines, we have to monitor them like milk on fire and, as soon as a signal appears, although we do not believe in the risk induced by it, we have to stop everything,” the expert said on Thursday. Swiss in Claire-Anne Siegrist vaccines for RTS.
But the approach explained above has puzzled many other medical professionals, who say that these health problems do not seem to be more common after vaccination with AstraZeneca serum than among people vaccinated with other immunization products used in Europe, such as vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech and Modern.
“It’s going too far”
This is, in fact, the argument presented by the AstraZeneca group itself. In a statement issued on Sunday, AstraZeneca stressed that the number of cases of thrombosis after receiving the vaccine is “similar” to that reported by other manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines.
These claims are supported by official figures published in the United Kingdom, one of the most advanced countries in the world in terms of vaccination campaigns. British figures show the extremely rare nature of thrombosis.
There were only 35 such cases in the 9.7 million people who received a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine – representing 0.0004% – and 24 cases in the 10.7 million people who were vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech serum – 0.0002%. In each category, there was only one death.
“Clearly, the percentage (…) is no different,” Stephen Evans, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a statement, citing the Science Media Center, which regrets the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in several countries.
“It is very reasonable to study carefully the links between vaccines and coagulation problems, but it goes too far when we prevent people from receiving vaccines that can help them avoid getting sick,” the same expert insisted.
According to AstraZeneca, cases of thrombosis are even considerably less common than the average reported in the unvaccinated population.
However, this does not mean that the vaccine has no side effects. In France, data provided by the Drug Regulatory Authority, ANSM, show that they are more commonly reported in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca (0.66%) than in those immunized with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines (0.19%) and Modern (0.12%).
These side effects are generally non-serious. However, some of them can still be serious, consisting of allergic reactions, which impede breathing. The European Union added allergic reactions a few days ago to the list of potential side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine, even though such cases were exceptional: only 41 cases reported in 5 million people.
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