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On Monday, France halted the use of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine developed by British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca. In a statement published on the same day, French president Emmanuel Macron referred to the decision as a «precautionary» measure and hoped France would be able to vaccinate with AstraZeneca shots again «soon».
On the same day, Italy’s medicines authority AIFA announced that it had also suspended the use of the AstraZeneca-developed vaccine. Italy said that the suspension is a «precautionary and temporary measure» pending rulings by the European Union’s medicines regulator known as the European Medicines Agency.
? Emmanuel Macron annonce la suspension "par précaution" de la vaccination avec AstraZeneca "jusqu'à demain après-midi" pic.twitter.com/pwcqkMAIiz
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 15, 2021
This was also the case in Germany, after side effects were reported. The decision was based on the advice of the national vaccine regulators, the Paul Ehrlich Insitute. The latter referred to seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had received said vaccine.
«Today’s decision is a purely precautionary measure», German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Monday.
On the other hand, the Dutch Health Ministry announced that a similar preventive measure would be implemented until March 29.
Norway has also halted the use of AstraZeneca’s anti-Covid-19 vaccine. The decision was made public on Thursday, after the country announced that one of three healthcare workers hospitalized with blood clots after taking AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine had died.
Following Norway’s decision, the Irish National Immunization Advisory Committee (NIAC) temporarily suspended the use of said vaccine on Sunday. The directive is «a precaution though it has not been concluded that there is any link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and these cases», the body said in a statement.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov also confirmed that his country has suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday, «following similar measures taken in Denmark, Iceland and Norway for safety reasons», Euractiv reported.
Spain has also followed suit. On Tuesday, the country said that it has temporarily suspended the administration of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. «From Saturday to Sunday we were made aware of a case of cerebral venous thrombosis, specifically of the venous sinuses, which developed with a reduction in platelets, which implies irregular coagulation activity», said María Jesús Lamas, the director of the Spanish Medication Agency, on Monday after an urgent meeting of the Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS).
WHO has not established a direct link with side effects
Tensions between the EU and AstraZeneca arose over a month ago. In February, the same vaccine was subject to restrictions on use in European countries, where some health authorities cited insufficient data on senior users.
Some countries had limited the age of those who would receive the double injection to 55 years old, before lifting this restriction after consulting the results of scientific studies carried out.
On Thursday, Swedish-British laboratory AstraZeneca defended itself, citing that «patient safety is [its] top priority». For its part, the WHO has not advised against the use of the vaccine developed by the laboratory; it even spoke out last Friday to put an end to the uncertainties and recommend its use.
«Yes we should continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine (…) there is no reason not to use it».
The official stressed that the WHO experts were looking at the information of the formation of these blood clots, noting that no cause and effect link has been established for the time being. She also insisted that «any security alert must be investigated».
In Morocco, as in the United Kingdom, several million people have received the AstraZeneca vaccine, without reporting serious side effects.
