From the start of the pandemic, it has been almost a universal opinion that the development of a vaccine would be an incredibly efficient way to help us navigate out of the situation that has since developed.
Now a year on, with at least 9 vaccines developed and in use, they are understood as a crucial aspect of both the road out of lockdown and the solution to the crippling social and economic problems that have come with it. As such, the assumption is that world leaders would be doing everything within their power to role out their vaccination programmes as fast as possible.
However, several EU countries (including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns that a possible side effect includes the formation of rare blood clots in the brain, despite the vaccine being cleared for trial. Understandably, questions concerning whether this was the right decision have been dominating the news.
Firstly, what is the AstraZeneca vaccine?
Developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and approved for use on the 30th December 2020, the vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold that affects chimpanzees. It has been modified to look like coronavirus and once injected, teaches the body’s immune system to fight the real virus.
Like all vaccinations, it underwent extensive clinical trials with the results finding it stopped people from falling seriously ill with COVID-19. It is important to note that within these trials, out of the 32,000 volunteers there were no safety issues reported regarding blood clots.
Over 27 million people have since been vaccinated in the UK, with famous faces including the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Fry having all received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Despite fervent insistence from the head of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, that the body stood by its decision to approve the vaccine – for they say the number of blood clots found in vaccinated people is no higher than in the general population – and the World Health Organisation urging countries to not halt their vaccinations, several EU countries have still suspended their use of the vaccine.
Germany’s explanation stated that there was a cluster of rare blood clots found in the brain prominently in younger people, and consequently the state believed they had a legal duty to stop giving the vaccine to people who were unaware of the potential risks.
The question remains of whether this was the correct decision by these countries, and the answer is one that can and is being widely debated. Whilst any fatalities that may be connected to the vaccine are tragic and upsetting, they should not be an immediate cause for concern for those who have their vaccination scheduled, as only five of the millions of patients who have been vaccinated in the UK have been reported as having this form of blood clot.
Also, Europe have been seeing another wave of deadly cases causing restrictions to tighten once again, with the intensive care units overflowing in France. Many people have seen this a result of the slower pace of Europe’s vaccination drive, which has only been made slower with the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Therefore, it could be argued that the suspension of the vaccine was wrong, for it is proving to be a viable path out of lockdown when looking at the countries that are continuing with their vaccination programs.
We also don’t know enough about natural immunity to rely on it – with COVID-19 still being a relatively new virus, the concrete information we know about it is relatively rare and we have no cure. So, it makes the immunity provided by the vaccine a much safer choice, especially until we know more about the virus and can possibly find a cure.
The health and wellbeing of the public always has to be a priority, and the EU countries that have suspended the vaccine are not wrong in wanting to protect their population if they believe the vaccine to be a threat to this.
However, extensive clinical trials did prove to the vaccine to be safe for the general public, and this has been shown by the vast majority of adults who have been well after receiving their first dose. Also, the benefits of vaccinations cannot be ignored – they allow the pressure on hospitals to be decreased and more non-covid patients to receive necessary hospital beds, as well as allowing global connectivity to resume without the risk of triggering more waves.
So, whilst these EU countries are not wrong in their intentions regarding the suspension of the vaccine, there is a suggestion that the benefits and importance of the vaccine could balance this small risk.