The World Health Organisation maintained on Friday that it saw no reason to stop the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 jab following the suspension of the vaccine in several countries over blood clot fears.
The WHO, which said its vaccines advisory committee was examining the safety data coming in, Friday stressed that no causal link has been established between the AstraZeneca vaccine and clotting.
“Yes, we should continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said, stressing that any concerns over safety must be investigated.
The Britain-based AstraZeneca insisted its jab was safe, adding there is “no evidence” of higher blood clot risks.
New lockdown in Italy
Despite hopes that vaccines will pave the way to a return to normality, hard-hit Italy announced tough new restrictions in much of the country, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi warning the country faced “a new wave” of infections.
One year after it became the first European country to face a major outbreak, Italy is again struggling with the rapid spread of COVID-19, this time fuelled by new, more contagious variants.
Schools, restaurants, shops and museums were ordered to close across most regions of Italy, including Rome and Milan from next week.
Disneyland Paris, one of Europe’s biggest tourist attractions, said it will not be able to reopen as planned on April 2 as infections remain stubbornly high in France.
Another possible side effect
The shadow cast over the AstraZeneca jab is adding to the European Union’s problems distributing vaccines.
Denmark, Norway and Iceland paused use of the drugmaker’s shot as a precaution after isolated reports of recipients developing blood clots.
Italy and Austria have banned the use of jabs from separate batches of AstraZeneca, and Thailand and Bulgaria said this week they would delay rollout.
India will carry out a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects from the AstraZeneca shot next week although no cases of blood clots have been reported so far, the Hindustan Times daily quoted officials as saying on Saturday.
“The review is taking place as a matter of abundant precaution,” NK Arora from the Indian COVID task force told the paper.
In Spain at least five regions said they had suspended use of AstraZeneca vaccines from the suspect batch banned by Austria as a precautionary measure.
But several other countries, including Australia, said they would continue their rollouts as they had found no reason to alter course. Canada also said there was no evidence the jab causes adverse reactions.
In a fresh hit, the EU’s drug regulator said severe allergies should be added to the possible side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine after some likely links were found in Britain.
