The AstraZeneca vaccine remains safe and recommended for use, while studies continue to investigate a possible link to its “very rare” side effects, including clots blood, said WHO deputy assistant director Mariangela Simao.
“The situation stands that the benefits outweigh the risks,” Simao told a news conference Friday. “Potential connection to a rare side event … that would happen [to] one in a million, still being studied by WHO and also by the European Medicines Agency and other regulatory bodies. “
Last week, German researchers looked at how the vaccine can cause rare brain thrombosis in a small number of patients and found that targeted treatment can be offered to those who are suffers from a similar clotting, using common medication. Several countries including Germany briefly stopped the use of the vaccine for clotting concerns.
Europe
Number of confirmed cases in Germany has risen 20,472, bringing the majority to 2,755,225, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed Saturday. Meanwhile, the reported death toll rose from 157 to 75,780.
German health officials warned Friday that the third wave of infections is likely to be “more difficult to contain” than the previous two, largely due to the B117 variant which is stronger and easier to move.
RKI leader Lothar Wieler called on the Germans to reduce their social ties over the Easter holidays.
America
United States has delivered nearly 137,000,000 doses of the COVID vaccine and has delivered more than 177,000,000 doses to date, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention have said.
Meanwhile, former CDC director Robert Redfield said he believes the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
“I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan escaped, you know, from a laboratory,” Redfield told CNN. “It is not uncommon for respiratory pathogens to be operated in a laboratory to capture a laboratory worker.”
The theory has been rejected by many global epidemiologists and has contributed to tensions between China and the US.
Brazil has marked a new daily record with 3,650 deaths in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health in Brasilia said on Friday. The country’s total death tax is now at 307,112, with more than 12.4 million confirmed cases since the outbreak began.
The milestone comes when the Saantan Pao Buttan Institute announced the development of a “100% Brazilian” vaccine. The institute said it plans to start using the injection in July.
Butantan is the largest vaccine manufacturer in Brazil and makes the CoronaVac image produced by the Chinese company Sinovac.
In Venezuela, Facebook has frozen President Nicolas Maduro ‘s page for violating anti – virus information policies by promoting a cure that he says, in the absence of evidence, can to cure the disease, a company spokesman said.
In January, Maduro described Carvativir, an oral solution derived from thyme, as a “miracle” drug that neutralizes coronavirus without any side effects. Doctors have said science does not support his claim.
lc / mm (AP, AFP, Reuters)