Germany is re-evaluating AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after the country’s capital, the city-state of Berlin, suspended its use for people under the age of 60, pointing to new data on the potential risk of thrombi that has already been analyzed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA, for its sigals in English).
Berlin’s Health Minister Dilek Kalayci announced that both the German Independent Vaccine Commission, which is supported by the Robert Koch public health institute (RKI), and the Federal Vaccine Institute, will make new recommendations on how to proceed. . The results could be presented this Tuesday.
This decision represents a new blow to the AstraZeneca vaccine and another threat to the vaccination campaign in Europe. A dozen European countries, including Spain, already temporarily suspended the Swedish company’s administration of the drug earlier this month, although they resumed its use after the EMA and the World Health Organization insisted that there was no link. concrete between thrombi and the vaccine, and affirmed that its benefits far outweigh the risks.
Germany’s regional health ministers will also discuss the vaccine with the federal government at a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon. RKI spokeswoman Susanne Glasmacher confirmed that the vaccine commission is evaluating the latest information on AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
“We have to wait for the recommendations, but we wanted to take this step as a precaution,” Kalayci told a news conference, adding that the pending appointments will be cancelled. “This vaccine prevents people from having severe symptoms of covid, which is very valuable, but we need to make sure there are no major downsides.”
rare cases
In the review earlier this month, the EMA concluded that thrombus cases, around thirty among several tens of millions of people vaccinated, are “rare” and similar to the normal proportion of people who experience thrombi for no apparent reason or from consuming other common products, such as birth control pills. It still recommended that a warning be added to the product’s package insert to ensure the public is better informed.
Germany’s latest move comes after Health Canada suspended plans for blood clots. Several provinces halted injections this week after the country’s vaccine advisory committee recommended a pause in their administration. Norway also maintains its supply paralyzed.
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