Health experts pore over AstraZeneca safety data

Global health experts came under increasing pressure on Tuesday to clear up questions over the safety of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot, as Sweden and Latvia joined countries suspending their use in a further blow to Europe’s vaccination rollout.

So far, a handful of cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts have arisen, compared with 45 million doses of various vaccines given in the European Union and its near neighbours. Germany has reported seven such cases, of which three died, out of 1.6 million people who received AstraZeneca.

A World Health Organization (WHO) committee of experts was reviewing the cases and was in dialogue with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), an EU regulator, which was due to hold a news conference at 1300 GMT.

The EU’s largest members - Germany, France and Italy - suspended use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine on Monday pending the outcome of investigations into unusual cases of a rare cerebral thrombosis in people who had received it.

The addition of Sweden and Latvia on Tuesday brought to more than a dozen the number of EU countries to act since reports first emerged of thromboembolisms affecting people after they got the AstraZeneca shot.

The WHO and EMA had earlier joined AstraZeneca in saying there is no proven link, but some experts said rare cases of highly unusual cerebral thrombosis in younger people did appear to indicate a causal connection to the AstraZeneca shot.

“The benefits of vaccination significantly outweigh the risks, especially for the elderly,” said Karl Lauterbach, health spokesman for Germany’s Social Democratic Party.
BERLIN (Reuters), 
16 March, 2021