{"id":181167,"date":"2021-03-22T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=181167"},"modified":"2021-03-17T06:20:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T06:20:37","slug":"20-countries-suspend-use-of-astrazeneca-vaccine-but-regulators-insist-benefits-outweigh-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/03\/20-countries-suspend-use-of-astrazeneca-vaccine-but-regulators-insist-benefits-outweigh-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"20+ Countries Suspend Use of AstraZeneca Vaccine, but Regulators Insist \u2018Benefits Outweigh Risks\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

16 Mar 2021 – WHO and the EMA are investigating reports of blood clot-related injuries and deaths after the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, but both say there\u2019s no reason to stop using the vaccines.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 20 countries<\/a> have either suspended or said they will delay Oxford-AstraZeneca<\/a> vaccinations based on reports of deaths or injuries \u2014 in most cases related to blood clots \u2014 in healthy people who received the vaccine.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors in Northern Italy announced Monday they had seized a batch of 393,600 shots of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine<\/a> following the death of a 57-year-old man hours after he was vaccinated, reported Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the World Health Organization (WHO) is standing firm in its support of the vaccine. In a press conference today<\/a>, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, \u201cThis does not necessarily mean these events [deaths and injuries] are linked to the vaccine, but it\u2019s routine practice to investigate them, and it shows that the surveillance system works and effective controls are in place.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to news reports<\/a>, WHO\u2019s vaccine safety experts were meeting today to discuss the vaccine. WHO had previously said<\/a> that an ongoing analysis by its vaccines advisory committee has not established a causal link between the vaccine and blood clots and countries should keep using it, reported The Telegraph.<\/a><\/p>\n

Regulators in Europe also defended the vaccine telling news outlets<\/a> that the \u201cbenefits outweigh the risks.\u201d Still, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating reports of blood clots in vaccine recipients and will release its findings Thursday, according to Nasdaq.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said today<\/a> during a news conference that there was no indication the incidents, which she called \u201cvery rare,\u201d had been caused by the vaccine, but experts were assessing that possibility.<\/p>\n

The AstraZeneca vaccine, not yet approved for emergency use in the U.S., is being distributed under WHO\u2019s COVAX<\/a> program, funded by Bill Gates<\/a>. The company plans to file<\/a> for Emergency Use Authorization<\/a> with the U.S Food and Drug Administration in the upcoming weeks.<\/p>\n

In Italy, Piedmont\u2019s regional government suspended use of AstraZeneca\u2019s batch ABV5811, which is different than the batch of AstraZeneca vaccine seized last week in Sicily after the sudden deaths of two men<\/a> who had recently been vaccinated.<\/p>\n

The Italian government had previously said<\/a> there was no evidence of a connection between the deaths and the vaccine, and had allowed the AstraZeneca vaccine to continue to be administered even after other countries had suspended use of the vaccine.<\/p>\n

In addition to Italy, France<\/a>, Iceland<\/a>, Denmark<\/a>, Cyprus<\/a>, Luxembourg<\/a>, Latvia<\/a>, Estonia<\/a> and The Netherlands<\/a> have suspended or delayed the AstraZeneca vaccine.<\/p>\n

Other countries that have hit pause on AstraZeneca<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Norway<\/strong>, which is investigating<\/a> reports of young healthy people who experienced brain hemorrhages and blood clots after being vaccinated. On March 12, the Norwegian Medicines Agency<\/a> and Norwegian Institute of Public Health<\/a> (NIPH) reported an unexpected death from a brain haemorrhage after an AstraZeneca vaccine was administered. A day later the agencies received three more reports of severe cases of blood clots or brain haemorrhages in younger people who had been vaccinated and were receiving hospital treatment. All of the patients showed reduced numbers of blood platelets.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pal Andre Holme is treating the three health workers at Olso University Hospital. He told<\/a> Norway\u2019s VG newspaper that it was \u201cvery unusual\u201d to see such young patients with such \u201clow levels of blood platelets.\u201d Holme\u2019s said, \u201cThese are healthy young people who have not had any kind of disease before, who then get severe blood clots. You have to ask questions whether there is a connection with the vaccine, which I do not consider unlikely.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its report<\/a>, the NIPH called for anyone under the age of 50 who experienced \u201clarge or small bruises\u201d after being vaccinated to visit a doctor.<\/p>\n

Sweden<\/strong> announced today it was suspending the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of abnormal blood clotting in recipients, according to NPR<\/a>. The Swedish Public Health Agency<\/a> said it would suspend use of the vaccine until the EMA reveals findings from its ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n

Bulgaria<\/strong> paused the vaccine as a precautionary measure last week after a woman died of heart failure 15 hours after receiving the shot, reported Reuters<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cUntil all doubts are dispelled \u2026 we are halting inoculations with this vaccine,\u201d Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ireland <\/strong>said on Sunday it was suspending the country\u2019s rollout of the AstraZeneca\u2019s vaccine, The Telegraph<\/a> reported. Dr Karina Butler, head of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee<\/a>, told Irish state broadcaster RT\u00c9 that the committee had made the decision after Norway reported a \u201ccluster of four serious, very rare, very serious clotting events\u201d in young healthy people.<\/p>\n

Germany<\/strong> suspended the vaccine as a precautionary measure this week after the country\u2019s health minister, Jens Spahn, said seven cases of cerebral vein thrombosis had been reported<\/a>. Spahn said<\/a> Germany\u2019s vaccine authority, the Paul Ehrlich Institute<\/a>, \u201cconsiders further investigation necessary after new reports of cerebral brain thrombosis in connection with vaccination in Germany and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Paul Ehrlich Institute said the EMA should decide \u201cwhether and how the new findings will affect the approval of the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indonesia<\/strong> Monday suspended the use<\/a> of the AstraZeneca vaccine saying it was waiting for a full report from the WHO before administering any more of the vaccines.<\/p>\n

South Africa<\/strong>, as previously reported by The Defender<\/a>, suspended plans to distribute the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine in February after a study showed only 10% efficacy at protecting against mild and moderate COVID-19 cases from the new South African variant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Venezuela<\/strong> decided<\/a> it will not authorize or license AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID vaccine at all due to complications in vaccinated recipients. The country had reserved 1.4 to 2.4 million doses through COVAX.<\/p>\n

Some countries still on board:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite safety concerns, some countries are moving forward with the AstraZeneca vaccine.<\/p>\n

Last week, Thailand became the first country outside Europe to temporarily suspend using the vaccine due to safety concerns, according to Associated Press<\/a>. But Thailand\u2019s health authorities reversed course and decided to move forward. The Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and members of his cabinet received the first shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people who have concerns,\u201d Chan-ocha said<\/a> after he received the first dose. \u201cBut we must believe doctors, believe in our medical professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Philippines<\/strong>, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said<\/a> his country would not suspend use of the vaccine because the benefits outweighed any risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still no clear data that shows that the blood clotting was caused by AstraZeneca. If such data will come out, maybe we will also stop the use of AstraZeneca,\u201d Roque said. \u201cAs of now, our experts are saying again that the benefits we get from using AstraZeneca are larger than the side effects of this vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s<\/strong> Health Minister Greg Hunt said<\/a> his country \u201cabsolutely, clearly and unequivocally\u201d supports the rollout of AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID vaccine and would not suspend vaccinations, with plans to import and manufacture 70 million vaccine doses from the vaccine maker. Australia\u2019s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, said there was no evidence so far that the vaccine causes blood clots.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s<\/strong> Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said<\/a> Monday Health Canada regulators are \u201cconstantly analyzing all the available information about vaccines and have guaranteed those approved in Canada are safe for use.\u201d The government\u2019s National Advisory Committee on Immunization today approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for people 65 and older \u2014 it had previously limited the approval for people under age 65 due to \u201climited information on its efficacy,\u201d MSN reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Reuters<\/a>, AstraZeneca reviewed its own safety data and said on Sunday there was no evidence of increased risk of blood clots from its COVID vaccine. A monthly safety report will be made public on the EMA website next week, the company said.<\/p>\n

WHO said global distribution of AstraZeneca\u2019s COVID vaccine remained undisrupted<\/a>, though TGR reported<\/a> investigations into AstraZeneca concerns have triggered far-reaching reactions with thousands of cancellations of AstraZeneca\u2019s vaccine. In Veneto Italy alone, 50% of planned vaccination appointments with AstraZeneca were cancelled since Saturday, reported<\/a> the president of the region, Luca Zaia.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Megan Redshaw is a freelance reporter for <\/em>The Defender. She has a background in political science, a law degree and extensive training in natural health. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Go to Original \u2013 childrenshealthdefense.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 Mar 2021 – More than 20 countries have either suspended or said they will delay Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccinations based on reports of deaths or injuries \u2014 in most cases related to blood clots \u2014 in healthy people who received the vaccine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":181168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2124],"tags":[2425,1829,1868,888],"class_list":["post-181167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-debates-on-covid-vaccines","tag-astrazeneca-vaccine","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-vaccines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}