WHO asks countries to keep using Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked countries to resume administering the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine as many European countries, including Germany, France, and Italy suspend its use.

Tuesday, 16th March 2021

WHO asks countries to keep using Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked countries to resume administering the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine as many European countries, including Germany, France, and Italy suspend its use. Since last week, more than 10 European nations have reduced the use of the jab over news that some people have suffered serious blood clotting issues. WHO said its current plan is that the keep using the AstraZeneca vaccines to fight COVID-19 — which has eliminated more than 2.6 million people worldwide —as it far outweigh the risks. Dr Soumya Swaminathan, WHO's chief scientist, noted that 300 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered around the world, and there is no documented death linked to any one of them. She said the rates at which blood clots have occurred in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine "are in fact more limited than what you would expect in the global population." WHO's vaccine safety authorities are set to meet on today to discuss Europe's medicines control had earlier issued a similar message to the WHO, saying on Monday that it considers the interests of vaccinations with AstraZeneca "outweigh the risk of side effects". It stated that the number of such events in treated people "seems not to be higher than that seen in the general population". "While its study is ongoing, EMA currently lives of the view that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalization and death, exceed the risks of side effects," it added. The EMA's safety organization is to issue further information on Tuesday while and an excellent meeting is to be held on Thursday to "conclude on the data gathered and any further steps that may need to be taken". Germany, France, Italy latest to suspend AstraZeneca The EMA and WHO's decision comes just hours after Germany, France, and Italy joined a growing list of European nations that have temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. Spain and Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia took similar areas later on Monday. Germany's health ministry said it was a precautionary step based on a national medicines regulator's recommendation, the Paul Ehrlich Institute. "Following reports of cerebral vein thrombosis in connection with the vaccination in Germany and Europe, the Paul Ehrlich Institute considers further studies to be important," the health ministry said on Twitter. "The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will determine whether and how the new findings will change the approval of the vaccine," it added. Germany is the EU country that has so far provided the most doses of COVID-19 vaccines to its people. As of March 14, more than 6.5 million had received at least one dose of a vaccine and 2.8 million had been fully protected, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The country has so far used just under half of the 12.5 million doses it has received, of which just over 3 million are from AstraZeneca. Germany's communication was quickly followed by similar ones issued from Paris and Rome.