AstraZeneca jabs, clots link ‘plausible but unconfirmed’
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A LINK between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 jabs and blood clots is plausible but unconfirmed, the World Health Organization’s vaccine experts said on Wednesday, stressing that reported occurrences were “very rare.”
The statement came after the European Medicines Agency said it had found a “possible link” between the shot and the rare blood clots and described the clots as “very rare” side effects.
But the jab’s benefits continue to outweigh the risks, it added.
The COVID-19 sub-committee of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety met on Wednesday to review the latest information from the EMA, British and other medicines regulators.
“Based on current information, a causal relationship between the vaccine and the occurrence of blood clots with low platelets is considered plausible but is not confirmed,” the GACVS said.
“Specialized studies are needed to fully understand the potential relationship between vaccination and possible risk factors.
“Whilst concerning, the events under assessment are very rare, with low numbers reported among the almost 200 million individuals who have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine around the world.”
“We believe the benefit-risk balance is very much in favor of the vaccine,” said the WHO in response to an AFP query. “Nothing has changed in our advice — which is to keep vaccinating.”
The AstraZeneca jabs produced in South Korea and India, plus the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and that of Johnson and Johnson, are the only ones to have received WHO authorization so far in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AstraZeneca vaccine accounts for almost all of the doses being distributed around the world in the first wave of the COVAX global vaccine-sharing facility.
COVAX has now delivered 36 million doses of coronavirus vaccine to 86 countries and economies, the WHO said on Tuesday. The scheme aims to ensure poorer nations get enough doses to vaccinate at least 20 percent of their population by the end of the year.
Britain’s vaccine advisory committee said on Wednesday that an alternative to Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine should be given to under 30s where possible due to a “vanishingly” rare side effect of blood clots in the brain.
“People can be reassured that we have the high class safety system run by our world class regulator ... and then we’re totally transparent with all of the side effects, no matter how extremely rare they are like these ones,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News.
Hancock said new guidance would not delay Britain’s vaccination program because alternatives from Pfizer and Moderna would be available for the affected group.
Britain is aiming to give a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine all over-50s by mid-April and all adults by the end of July.
The EMA on Wednesday held back from issuing guidelines, saying countries would have to assess the balance of risks themselves, based on prevailing infection rates and the availability of alternative vaccines.
The EMA has received reports of 169 cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis as of April 4, said Sabine Straus, chair of the EMA’s safety committee. That’s out of 34 million doses of the shot administered in the European Economic Area.
Italy and Spain joined other countries in suggesting age limits for AstraZeneca’s vaccine, recommending the shot only be used on those over 60.
Australia said yesterday it now recommends people under 50 should get Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in preference to AstraZeneca’s shot. Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told reporters the risk of clots was extremely low.
“It’s only been found in the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, usually within 4 to 10 days after that vaccine. But it is serious, and it can cause up to a 25 percent death rate when it occurs,” he said.
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