Source of this article: Times Weekly Author: Liu Muxuan
After the World Health Organization (WTO) advisory vaccine safety panel stated that AstraZeneca vaccine had a "reasonable" causal link with clotting side effects in recipients, the UK and the European Union Authoritative organizations have also successively issued statements to "give concrete action".
The AstraZeneca vaccine has once again caused controversy in the EU. (Source: Reuters )
On the afternoon of April 7, local time, the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) stated that it had confirmed a link between vaccine injections and rare blood clots.
Coincidentally, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) also came to the same conclusion on April 6. EMA Executive Director Cook stated in a televised speech that "abnormal clotting due to low platelet levels" will be added to the product information of the AstraZeneca vaccine as an adverse reaction entry for "very rare" side effects.
This move is equivalent to putting a stamp on the new coronavirus vaccine, which has been recognized as the cheapest and most potential for mass popularization. At the same time, the United States is also investigating the side effects of Pfizer's vaccine and may eventually follow the EU's lead. Following the announcement of the
EMA, AstraZeneca's shares closed down 1.2%, hitting a 2-week low.
In fact, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been controversial since the second half of last year, and the issue of blood coagulation side effects has become the biggest drawback of this vaccine. More than a dozen countries around the world have suspended vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and many countries, including France, the Netherlands and Germany, have set a minimum vaccination age.
Strauss, chairman of the EMA Safety Committee, said that as of early April, 169 reports of brain blood clots had been found among the 34 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine administered in the European Economic Area.
After the EMA's last assessment said that no link between the vaccine and side effects has been found yet, the UK also accused the EU of boycotting the vaccine as irrational and based on political considerations.
But then the British government also discovered the problem. As of March 24, there have been 22 reports of brain blood clots and eight other reports of low platelet thrombosis out of 18.1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered in the UK.
Currently, the UK has suspended trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine in children. But the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization recommends that people aged under 30 and without any other medical conditions should receive another vaccine if possible.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that AstraZeneca announced early results from its Phase III clinical trial in the United States last month, with an efficacy rate of 79%, but U.S. health officials questioned that the data was outdated, and this incident made AstraZeneca The credibility of the Likang vaccine has been hit again.
Despite the many controversies, the WTO, EMA, MHRA and the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis have all emphasized that the benefits of vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine still far outweigh the risks of infection with the new coronavirus .
Currently, most of the side effects discovered occur in women under the age of 60. However, WTO experts said that coagulation side effects are not uncommon, and many drugs may cause mild coagulation. For example, 4 out of every 10,000 women will develop blood clots due to oral contraceptives.
