Stroke Of Bad Luck: The Fears Of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine

The first positive results from interim clinical trials of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, codenamed AZD1222, were published back in November, giving hope to the millions.

Months later, however, many started to question its safety. From a diplomatic row with the EU over the supply shortfalls to serious health concerns, including fatal strokes, all this is about AstraZeneca.

Earlier this week, several European countries, including Denmark, Iceland and Norway, halted the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after Austria said it was investigating the death of a vaccinated woman from multiple thromboses. While AstraZeneca claims that no evidence has been found to prove the vaccine’s link to blood clotting, more and more countries, including Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Luxembourg, are following the suit by suspending AstraZeneca inoculations until thorough investigations into its safety are complete.

Others, on the other hand, stepped up to refute the claims. On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, as well as health authorities in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Mexico and Nigeria urged countries to continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine and reassured citizens of its safety.

AstraZeneca’s Public Misfortune

Even if it is only a temporary suspension that is shrugged off by many experts as excessive, this reinforces the defiance in the public about the vaccine.

The concern, according to Cole, came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faced the first delays of the AstraZeneca jabs, which were to be produced in the Belgian factory of the UK-Swedish group.

“The Commission demanded that the British factories – which were fulfilling the earlier massive order of the British government – diverted their production to continental Europe, since it was implied in their contract. They didn’t. What the public understood everywhere in the EU, from the voice of Merkel, rapidly relayed by [French President] Emmanuel Macron and many health ministers and European Commissioners, was that AstraZeneca was no good,” the retired civil servant noted.

Yet, it has since been proven that the AstraZeneca vaccine was even safer for senior citizens than those by Pfizer and Moderna.

“So the rumor spread by Merkel, Macron and others was not founded. Another European fake news, and the experts now have great difficulty in convincing Europeans to get vaccinated with doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, since their own peoples don’t trust them,” Cole added.

The Danish halt will reinforce the disastrous effect in central Europe, where the AstraZeneca vaccine is massively used, next to Pfizer, Moderna, and very shortly Johnson & Johnson that was approved this week by the EMA (European Medicines Agency).

“At present, we cannot conclude that there is a link between the vaccine and blood clots,” the Danish authorities, who insist that they are not giving up for good on the AstraZeneca, claim. Earlier this week, however, Austria stopped administering a batch of this vaccine after the death of a 49-year-old nurse who suffered from bleeding disorders.

Is there a link between strokes and AstraZeneca jabs?

According to Jean-Luc Gala, a virologist at Belgium’s UCLouvain University, the mere fact of asking this question negatively affects the UK-Swedish pharmaceutical company’s reputation.

“At first view, the number of strokes affecting Covid patients is no different from the number of strokes in the general population, and we now have the experience of millions of patients of all ages, vaccinated in the United Kingdom from as early as mid-December 2020, so for me, it is a false alert,” Gala told Sputnik.

The virologist added that it was normal for health authorities to promptly react at the first sign of a potential problem.

“But in this instance, I understand that most countries have overruled the alert and continue vaccination with AstraZeneca. The cases signaled must be coincidences,” Gala noted.

Health authorities must now determine whether there is a direct cause and effect relationship between the inoculation and the complications that might be observed.

After the preliminary investigationinvestigation carried out in Austria, the EMA assured that the reported death was unrelated to the vaccination.

With or without AstraZeneca, Europe is still lagging behind

AstraZeneca initially pledged to ship 100 million COVID-19 shots to the EU in the first quarter of 2021 but has since reduced its commitments to just 40 million, calling into question the bloc’s ambitious plan to vaccinate 70 percent of adults by mid-September.

The UK-Swedish-developed vaccine was the center of a diplomatic row after EU leadership engaged in a war of words with company executives, as well as UK leaders, over breaching contract terms and refusing to fulfill obligations. In addition, AstraZeneca has been subjected to increasing bad press for apparent health complications and for not being as effective as the US or Russian vaccines.

The EU is at 6.4 percent of its population vaccinated with at least one dose, which is much lower compared to other countries.