AstrazenecA: Who Recommends Continuing Vaccination

We must continue to vaccinate against Covid-19 with AstraZeneca, said Monday, March 15, the World Health Organization (WHO), before meeting on Tuesday its group of experts to study the safety of the vaccine. “We don’t want people to panic and, for now, we recommend that countries continue to vaccinate with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said during a press conference in Geneva. that the administration of this vaccine has been suspended as a precaution by several states after serious blood problems in those vaccinated.

“So far, we have not found a connection between these events and the vaccine,” added Soumya Swaminathan. “From what we have seen so far in the preliminary data, there is no increase in the number of cases of thromboembolic events,” said Dr. Mariangela Simao, deputy. WHO Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products.

 

The scientist also stressed that, for the time being, the benefit of vaccination outweighed the risks associated with Covid-19. At the forefront of the international fight against the pandemic, the WHO has however announced that it will meet on Tuesday its group of experts on vaccination to study the safety of the vaccine developed by the Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca. “The WHO Expert Advisory Group on Immunization has reviewed the data and is in close contact with the European Medicines Agency. And we will meet tomorrow, ”said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Vaccine use suspended in several countries

Several European countries, including France, Italy, Germany and Spain, have suspended “as a precaution” the use of AstraZeneca after serious blood problems in vaccinated people. Austria started the movement on March 8 by suspending a batch of vaccines after the death of a nurse who had just received a dose of the vaccine. This 49-year-old woman died of poor blood clotting.

For its part, AstraZeneca considered that nothing indicates a cause and effect link. “Since our last press conference on Friday, several other countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccines as a precaution, after blood clots were reported in people who received the vaccine from two batches produced in Europe,” said underlined Dr Tedros. “This does not necessarily mean that these events are related to vaccination. But it is common practice to examine them. And it shows that the surveillance system is working and that effective controls are in place, ”he added.

At his side, Mariangela Simao insisted on the fact that the batches concerned had been produced in Europe and therefore did not concern those supplied by the WHO as part of the Covax system. “It is very clear, and I would like to say this to countries in non-European regions, that the vaccines concerned were manufactured in Europe and that they are not those provided through the Covax mechanism, which are manufactured in Korea. (from the South) and India, ”she said. The Covax system aims to provide Covid vaccines to 20% of the population of nearly 200 participating countries and territories this year. It includes a funding mechanism that allows 92 nations with a low or medium level of economic development to have access to doses.

You may also like