AstraZeneca vaccine
German cities suspend AstraZeneca vaccine use for under-60s
Authorities in Berlin and Munich are again suspending the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for residents under age 60 due to new reports of unusual blood clots in people who recently received the shots, officials said Tuesday.
The action was taken as a precaution ahead of a meeting later Tuesday of representatives from Germany’s 16 states and further recommendations expected from national medical regulators, said Berlin’s top health official, Dilek Kalayci.
Also Read: Sweden is latest country to stop using AstraZeneca vaccine
The decision came after the country’s medical regulator announced that it had received a total of 31 reports of rare blood clots in recent recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Nine of the people died and all but two of the cases involved women aged 20 to 63, the Paul Ehrlich Institute said.
Also Read: Major European nations suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine
Reports of an unusual form of blood clot in the head, known as sinus vein thrombosis, prompted several European countries to temporarily halt the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month. After a review by medical experts, the European Medicines Agency concluded the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.
Also Read: Canada pauses AstraZeneca vaccine for under 55
At the same time, the agency recommended that warnings about possible rare side effects should be provided to patients and doctors. Most European Union countries, including Germany, resumed use of the vaccine.
Earlier Tuesday, two state-owned hospitals in Berlin announced that they had stopped giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to female staff members under 55. The heads of five university hospitals in western Germany called for a temporary halt to the vaccine for all younger women, citing the blood clot risk.
Kalayci, the Berlin state health minister, said the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccines for younger people was done as a precaution.
“We have not had a case of serious side effects in Berlin yet,” she said, adding that all of those who had received the AstraZeneca shot already could rest assured that it provides good protection against the coronavirus.
“Still, we need to treat it carefully and wait for the talks taking place at the federal level,” said Kalayci.
The decision could affect appointments for tens of thousands of teachers and people with preexisting conditions who received invitations to get vaccinated in Germany’s capital in recent days.
German news agency dpa quoted a spokesman for Munich, the country’s third-largest city, saying that the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccinations for people younger than 60 would last “until issue of possible vaccine complications for this group of persons has been resolved.”
Some 2.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered across the whole of Germany so far.
Some other European countries remain hesitant about giving the AstraZeneca shot to older people. In Madrid, residents ages 60 to 65 started receiving the vaccine Tuesday ahead of those between the ages of 66 and 79 because Spanish authorities have not yet reviewed new data provided by AstraZeneca about how well it works in the older age group.
Spain is currently using the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for people over 80 years old.
Spanish health authorities have said that they are hoping to speed up the rollout of vaccines with the arrival of the jab developed by the pharmaceutical company Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which has also been approved for use in Europe and requires one shot only.
Authorities in Berlin and Munich are again suspending the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for residents under age 60 due to new reports of unusual blood clots in people who recently received the shots, officials said Tuesday.
The action was taken as a precaution ahead of a meeting later Tuesday of representatives from Germany’s 16 states and further recommendations expected from national medical regulators, said Berlin’s top health official, Dilek Kalayci.
The decision came after the country’s medical regulator announced that it had received a total of 31 reports of rare blood clots in recent recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Nine of the people died and all but two of the cases involved women aged 20 to 63, the Paul Ehrlich Institute said.
Reports of an unusual form of blood clot in the head, known as sinus vein thrombosis, prompted several European countries to temporarily halt the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month. After a review by medical experts, the European Medicines Agency concluded the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.
At the same time, the agency recommended that warnings about possible rare side effects should be provided to patients and doctors. Most European Union countries, including Germany, resumed use of the vaccine.
Earlier Tuesday, two state-owned hospitals in Berlin announced that they had stopped giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to female staff members under 55. The heads of five university hospitals in western Germany called for a temporary halt to the vaccine for all younger women, citing the blood clot risk.
Kalayci, the Berlin state health minister, said the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccines for younger people was done as a precaution.
“We have not had a case of serious side effects in Berlin yet,” she said, adding that all of those who had received the AstraZeneca shot already could rest assured that it provides good protection against the coronavirus.
“Still, we need to treat it carefully and wait for the talks taking place at the federal level,” said Kalayci.
The decision could affect appointments for tens of thousands of teachers and people with preexisting conditions who received invitations to get vaccinated in Germany’s capital in recent days.
German news agency dpa quoted a spokesman for Munich, the country’s third-largest city, saying that the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccinations for people younger than 60 would last “until issue of possible vaccine complications for this group of persons has been resolved.”
Some 2.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered across the whole of Germany so far.
Some other European countries remain hesitant about giving the AstraZeneca shot to older people. In Madrid, residents ages 60 to 65 started receiving the vaccine Tuesday ahead of those between the ages of 66 and 79 because Spanish authorities have not yet reviewed new data provided by AstraZeneca about how well it works in the older age group.
Spain is currently using the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for people over 80 years old.
Spanish health authorities have said that they are hoping to speed up the rollout of vaccines with the arrival of the jab developed by the pharmaceutical company Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which has also been approved for use in Europe and requires one shot only.
Canada pauses AstraZeneca vaccine for under 55
Canada on Monday suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people under age 55 following concerns it might be linked to rare blood clots.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization had recommended the pause for safety reasons and the Canadian provinces, which administer health in the country, announced the suspension Monday.
“There is substantial uncertainty about the benefit of providing AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to adults under 55 given the potential risks,” said Dr. Shelley Deeks, vice chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
Also read: AstraZeneca: US data shows vaccine effective for all adults
Deeks said the updated recommendations come amid new data from Europe that suggests the risk of blood clots is now potentially as high as one in 100,000, much higher than the one in one million risk believed before.
She said most of the patients in Europe who developed a rare blood clot after vaccination with AstraZeneca were women under age 55, and the fatality rate among those who develop clots is as high as 40%.
Dr. Joss Reimer of Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force said despite the finding that there was no increase risk of blood clots overall related to AstraZeneca in Europe, a rare but very serious side effect has been seen primarily in young women in Europe.
Reimer said the rare type of blood clot typically happens between four and 20 days after getting the shot and the symptoms can mirror a stroke or a heart attack.
“While we still believe the benefits for all ages outweigh the risks I’m not comfortable with probably. I want to see more data coming out of Europe so I know exactly what this risk benefit analysis is,” Reimer said.
The AstraZeneca shot, which has been authorized in more than 70 countries, is a pillar of a U.N.-backed project known as COVAX that aims to get COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries. It has also become a key tool in European countries’ efforts to boost their sluggish vaccine rollouts. That makes doubts about the shots especially worrying.
Also read: AstraZeneca confirms strong vaccine protection after US rift
“This vaccine has had all the ups and downs. It looks like a roller coaster,” said Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, the chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, when asked if the latest news will lead to further vaccine hesitancy.
Health Canada said it has not received any reports of blood clots in Canada, and the department’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Supriya Sharma, said she still believes the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks.
Last week, the department changed its label on the vaccine to warn about the rare risk of blood clots.
Only those 60 and above have received AstraZeneca in Ontario, Canada's most populous province.
“We have no concerns with those who have received it so far,” said Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer.
Mark Mendelson, a 63-year-old Toronto man who has had heart surgery, said that he has no regrets about getting his first AstraZeneca dose two weeks ago and that he will get the second.
“Get what you can,” Mendelson said. “I had no ill effects at all from the AstraZeneca. I am in a better position than those who don’t have any vaccine at all. If you are betting person you would take those odds any day of the week. I’m quite prepared to roll the dice.”
Several European countries that had suspended using the vaccine over concerns it could cause blood clots have resumed administering it after the EU’s drug regulator said the vaccine was safe.
The vaccine is used widely in Britain, across the European continent and in other countries, but its rollout was troubled by inconsistent study reports about its effectiveness, and then more recently the scare about clots that had some countries temporarily pausing inoculations.
Canada is expected to receive 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca from the U.S. on Wednesday.
“The messaging has been brutal overall. I am fearful it is toast. It shouldn't be," said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network.
Morris thinks those who are at a high risk for a bad COVID-19 outcome and over the age of 55 should get AstraZeneca if the other vaccines are not available to them, especially during a third wave of coronavirus infections.
Canadian regulators approved the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Canada has placed bigger bets on Pfizer and Moderna, ordering up to 76 million doses of Pfizer and up to 44 million of Moderna, compared with up to 20 million of AstraZeneca. It's not known when Canada will receive its first shipment of Johnson & Johnson.
Canada received its first shipment of AstraZeneca this month — 500,000 doses from India. Of the 194,500 doses that Ontario received, about 10,000 remain. They expire April 2.
Also read: AstraZeneca vaccinations resume in Europe after clot scare
Canada has lagged on vaccinating its population because it lacks the ability to manufacture the vaccine and has had to rely on the global supply chain for the lifesaving shots, like many other countries.
With no domestic supply, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government bet on seven different vaccines manufactured elsewhere and secured advance purchase agreements — enough to get 10 doses for each of Canada’s 38 million people. While acquiring them has proven difficult, deliveries have ramped up this month. Canada expects to have more than 36.5 million doses by July and officials hope to get at least one dose into all adults who want one by the end of June.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization earlier recommended a four-month delay between doses after data from the U.K. and Quebec showed a good level of protection offered by the first shot. The U.K. has instituted a similar delay.
EU agency: AstraZeneca vaccine safe, will add clot warning
The European Union's drug regulatory agency said Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine is not linked to an overall increase in the risk of blood clots and that the benefits of use outweigh the risks, paving the way for European countries to resume administering the shots.
Vaccine drive to continue with AstraZeneca shot: Health Secretary
Bangladesh does not plan to suspend its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, despite a cascading number of countries doing so over reports of some recipients developing dangerous blood clots.
EU regulator 'convinced' AstraZeneca benefit outweighs risk
With coronavirus cases rising in many places, governments faced the grimmest of dilemmas Tuesday: push on with a vaccine that is known to save lives or suspend use of AstraZeneca over reports of dangerous blood clots in a few recipients, even as the European regulator said there was "no indication" the shot was responsible.
Sweden is latest country to stop using AstraZeneca vaccine
Sweden on Tuesday became the latest European country to pause use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine amid reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients.
WHO-EMA meet on AstraZeneca vaccine suspension today
As many countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, health officials from the UN and the European Union will meet with top executives of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Major European nations suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine
A cascading number of European countries — including Germany, France, Italy and Spain — suspended use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Monday over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and international regulators say there is no evidence the shot is to blame.
Ireland suspends AstraZeneca vaccine amid blood clot reports
Irish health officials on Sunday recommended the temporary suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of serious blood clotting after inoculations in Norway.
No reason to stop using AstraZeneca jab, says WHO
Countries should not stop using AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine over fears it causes blood clots as there is no indication this is true, the World Health Organization says, reports BBC.