Germany and Canada have restricted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 60 and 55 respectively, due to fear that it can lead to deadly blood clots.
Health Minister of Germany, Jens Spahn and state officials agreed unanimously on Tuesday to only give the vaccine to people aged 60 or older unless they belong to a high-risk category for serious illness from COVID-19 and have agreed with their doctor to take the vaccine despite the small risk of a serious side-effect.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the vaccination programme was based on trust and the expectation that every possible risk was being addressed. The decision came after Germany'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. Occurrence of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis after Vaccination with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca reported by Paul Ehrlich Institute.
Several European countries temporarily halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month after reports that it could cause an unusual form of blood clot known as sinus vein thrombosis. But the European Medicines Agency concluded the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks but recommended that warnings about rare side effects should be provided to patients and doctors. Most European Union countries have since resumed AstraZeneca inoculations, but some of them, including France, Finland, Sweden and Iceland, have restricted their use in elderly populations. Around 2.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been given in Germany so far.
Outside Europe, Canada has suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people under age 55 following concerns it might be linked to rare blood clots. Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunisation had recommended the pause for safety reasons and the Canadian provinces, which administer health in the country, announced the suspension.
“There is substantial uncertainty about the benefit of providing AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to adults under 55 given the potential risks,” said Shelley Deeks, vice-chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunisation, Canada. 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, far higher than the one in one million chance that was previously believed.
She said most of the patients in Europe who developed a rare blood clot after vaccination with AstraZeneca were women under age 55, and that the fatality rate is as high as 40%. Joss Reimer of Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force said despite the finding that there was no increased 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 4-20 days after getting the shot and the symptoms can lead to 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 authorised 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.
According to IndiaSpend, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provided only incomplete information about adverse events following immunisation until February 26 – and no reports since then.
On Feb 26, Total 51 persons have been hospitalized after vaccination in India. This comprises 0.0004% of the total vaccinations. Of the 51 cases of hospitalization till date, 27 were discharged after treatment, while twenty-three persons died and one person is under treatment. Total 46 deaths have been recorded till 26th Feb. These comprise 0.0004% of the total COVID19 vaccinations. Of the 46, 23 persons died in the hospital while 23 deaths are recorded outside the hospital.
Subscribe to PharmaTutor News Alerts by Email
