Vaccine ‘safe and effective’
EU medicines agency gives Astrazeneca jab go-ahead, leading some countries to resume shots as US reaches 100 million mark
TThis is a safe and effective vaccine. Its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19 with the associated risks of death and hospitalisation outweigh the possible risks.
EMA executive director Emer Cooke
he European Medicines Agency yesterday said the Astrazeneca vaccine was “safe and effective”, paving the way for the EU to reboot its faltering rollout of the Oxford University jab.
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and 13 other EU countries have suspended the use of the vaccine amid fears of blood clots and against the advice from the bloc’s medicines watchdog.
“This is a safe and effective vaccine. Its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19 with the associated risks of death and hospitalisation outweigh the possible risks,” Emer Cooke, the EMA’S executive director, said.
Italy, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, German, the Netherlands and Cyprus lifted the ban after the decision, and shots were resuming in some countries.
Slovenia’s prime minister was due to get the Oxford jab on camera after lifting the restrictions. Jean Castex, the French prime minister, said he would also get the Astrazeneca vaccine, and France would lift its suspension. He said Paris would be heading into a weekend lockdown.
More countries are expected to restart vaccinations after they said the suspensions were a temporary precaution pending the EMA probe.
Sweden will make a decision next week.
“We have vaccines that are safe and effective that can help prevent death and hospitalisation. We need to use those vaccines,” Cooke said.
“The vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots.”
She added there was no evidence of a quality or batch issue.
The EU has vaccinated just 12 per cent of its population and used just under half of its stockpile of about 15 million Astrazeneca jabs.
The EMA said there had been cases of “very rare and unusual but serious clotting disorders”, which it was not able to definitely rule out as linked to the Oxford jab. It said a warning would be added to product information for patients and doctors.
“I would be vaccinated tomorrow,” Cooke said, adding she hoped the investigation would rebuild trust in the vaccine.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said he backed Ursula von der Leyen’s threat to impose an export ban on vaccines to the UK amid divides among European countries over the European Commission president’s plan to force Britain to send Uk-manufactured Astrazeneca jabs to the EU. She said on Wednesday the bloc could trigger Article 122 to block exports, seize factories and waive intellectual property rights.
Von der Leyen, who has been embroiled in a row with Astrazeneca over supply shortfalls, said 10 million jabs manufactured in the EU had been exported to Britain, but none had been sent from the UK to the bloc.
Germany, Italy and Denmark were supportive at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels yesterday. The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Sweden and Ireland are concerned the move could hurt European supply chains and businesses.
Von der Leyen has spoken to Boris Johnson, who played down the idea the UK could retaliate to an EU vaccine export ban by blocking the export of vaccine components.
The Prime Minister said: “We will deliver all the second doses of the Pfizer. These vaccines are a multinational effort. We don’t have any bans on exporting stuff, and we will continue to cooperate with our European friends.”
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s US administration plans to send about 4 million doses of Astrazeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to neighbouring Mexico and Canada.
Brussels wants the US to release 30 million Astrazeneca doses for export, which are not being used because the US regulator has not approved the Oxford jab.
Biden also announced that, 58 days after taking office, his administration would have administered 100 million vacations. His goal had been to reach that total in 100 days.
“That’s way ahead of schedule,” he said.