PAHO supports continued use of Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) declared on Wednesday that it supports that AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and should continue to be practiced while examination in Europe is being done.

The declaration came notwithstanding a number of European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, halting the vaccine's use over reports of some blood clots in some recipients of the vaccine.

AstraZeneca and global indexes have announced there's no indication the vaccine was to accuse of the blood clots.

Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization's health emergencies department, said experts monitoring the use of AstraZeneca in the Americas "hadn't listed signs of alarm in regards to the security of that vaccine."

"Taking into a report that the advantages of the vaccine exceed the risks, the OPS suggests that the vaccination of AstraZeneca proceeds to fight COVID-19, while the cases in Europe are reviewed," he stated.

Among 17 million people who have taken the Astrazeneca vaccine in the EU and the UK, while only 15 cases of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and 22 pulmonary embolisms have been recorded, AstraZeneca announced in a declaration on 14 March.

DVT is a blood clot in a vein, which has the capability to move to the lungs, creating a blockage, or what is identified as a pulmonary embolism.

"Many thousands of people form blood clots yearly in the EU for several reasons," the EMA said in a declaration. The number of blood clotting events in immunized individuals "appears not to be greater than that seen in the overall population."

In Germany, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which suggests the government on covid-19, announced it had approved the interim postponement of the vaccine following a "striking rise" in instances of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) a blood clot in a major brain vessel, soon after inoculations.

Germany's health minister, Jens Spahn, announced at a press conference on 15 March that there had been seven related cases that may be associated with CVST out of 1.6 million inoculations in Germany.

"There is certainly no data that carries [the German government's] judgment," says César Muñoz-Fontela at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Germany.

He states that elderly people and people with pre-existing health conditions, who are more at risk of blood clots generally, have been prioritized for the vaccine, which may have skewed the possible side effects. He would like to see a relationship with a control group that has the same features as the people so far vaccinated.