AstraZeneca vaccinations resume in Europe, but WHO says scepticism may linger

London: The World Health Organisation says the intense focus on a small number of blood clotting cases that caused many European countries to suspend the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccinations against COVID-19 has undermined confidence in the jab.

No link has been established between blood clotting and the vaccine, and the AstraZeneca jab has been re-endorsed this week by Britain, the European Medicines Agency, and early on Saturday morning AEDT by the World Health Organisation.

At least 13 European countries stopped administering the AstraZeneca shot after reports of a small number of blood disorders.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine ... continues to have a positive benefit-risk profile, with tremendous potential to prevent infections and reduce deaths across the world,” WHO’s global advisory committee on vaccine safety said.

The committee made its findings based on data in Europe and India where more than 47 million doses have been administered.

“We urge countries to continue using this important COVID-19 vaccine,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference in Geneva.

At least 13 European countries stopped administering the shot after reports of a small number of blood disorders.

France resumed inoculations using the AstraZeneca vaccine, but said it should only be given to those aged over 55. That is despite France previously saying that the jab was not safe for anyone over 65, and then halting the rollout of the vaccine altogether over clotting fears.

Germany and Italy also resumed vaccinations and Ireland said it would restart its rollout in the coming days.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her motto was now “vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate” and, in a reversal of her previous position, said: “I would get vaccinated with AstraZeneca.” Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi also said he would take take the AstraZeneca shot.

Dr Mike Ryan, who heads the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said the amplification of a tiny number of clotting cases had damaged public confidence, as the world races to inoculate against a virus that has killed at least 2.6 million people worldwide.

“There was tremendous media explosion around this event and there was very little information around this and many political leaders came under intense scrutiny, they were being asked constant questions, there wasn’t a definitive answer,” Dr Ryan said.

“And many chose that precautionary principle of shutting down the use of a vaccine which potentially further undermined the confidence in that vaccination.

“So we all have to look at this and see how we can do better in future ... how we trust in those regulatory agencies which have proven themselves again, and again and again.”

He said media scrutiny was important, by the intensity of the 24-hour news cycle was “generating unwanted effects”.

“What will be left in the aftermath of that is very confused people who now have some doubts in their minds and that’s the awful outcome of this,” he said.

Meanwhile, Britain set a new record for how many jabs it had administered in a single day – 660,276 – taking the total number of people inoculated with their first dose to 26.2 million, more than Australia’s entire population.

Britain has Europe’s highest COVID-related death toll of more than 126,000. The lockdown combined with the country’s rapid vaccination roll-out has seen infections, deaths and hospitalisations plummet.

The daily death toll, calculated as a seven-day average, has fallen from a peak of more than 1300 in mid-January to 106 in the most recent reporting period, and new infections have stabilised at a rate of about 5000 per day, after hitting 60,000 per day at the end of December.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who nearly died from the disease last year, received received the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson receives the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday.Credit: AP

Unlike Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Johnson waited until the dose was offered to his age group. Morrison has justified putting himself first in line to encourage take-up among the public.

Britain’s supply of vaccines is set to fall in April because of a delay in shipments from India. Johnson has refused to criticise India for the delay, unlike the furious war of words between Westminster and Brussels after the European Union threatened to block exports, citing a shortfall of doses for its own COVID-ravaged countries.

Italy, backed by the European Commission, blocked the export of nearly a quarter of a million doses to Australia. Morrison said the decision had meant Australia was unable to send vaccines to Papua New Guinea, which is experiencing a severe COVID-19 outbreak.

He wrote to Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Wednesday, and said on Friday he had still not received a response.

The commission confirmed the receipt of the letter and a spokeswoman said a reply would be sent “in due time”.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Greg Hunt have also written to their counterparts and not received a response.

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