All over the world, people are currently being vaccinated against the Covid-19 disease. Covid-19 is the disease that causes the coronavirus. Therefore there is different vaccines from different companies. In Austria, Covid-19 vaccines may be used by four companies, namely Biontech and Pfizer (pronounced: baionntek; pfaisa), Moderna, Johnson & Johnson (pronounced: dschonnsn and dschonnsn) and AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca fuss
There’s been a lot of fuss right now about the AstraZeneca vaccine. Several countries (for example Germany) have temporarily stopped using this vaccine. In Austria they are still vaccinated with it. But don’t worry: that doesn’t mean the vaccine is bad or dangerous. Many millions of people have already been vaccinated with it. The specialists just want to be particularly careful and carefully check the vaccine again. This is purely a precautionary measure.
Why and what happened
It happened to a few people health problems some time after they were vaccinated. A few people died too. In Germany there were seven cases out of 1.6 million people vaccinated. Even after vaccinations with the Biontech vaccine there have already been cases in Great Britain, for example. The experts now want to find out whether this has something to do with the vaccinations or not. That has not yet been proven.
What exactly happened?
In some people, the blood has become lumpy. One speaks of a blood clot. If such a blood clot is pumped into the heart, head or lungs, for example, and clogs the veins, it can be very dangerous. In technical jargon, such a clumping in the blood is also called thrombosis. Thrombosis happens again and again, so it doesn’t have to have anything to do with the vaccination.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe. She recommends continuing to vaccinate with it. It is dangerous to omit a vaccine and therefore vaccinate fewer people against Covid-19. Because it could then be that more people die of Covid-19. In Europe and here too, people are eagerly awaiting what the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has to say. The professionals there are very knowledgeable about vaccines and have gathered a lot of numbers and information. We will know more about this on Thursday.
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