US health experts try to reduce Covid vaccine fears as AstraZeneca’s outlook for European review

Photo of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at Copes Pharmacy in Streatham on February 04, 2021 in London, England.

Dan Kitwood | Getty Images

Medical experts in the United States are trying to accept fears that Covid-19 vaccines could be dangerous after several European countries banned the AstraZeneca pill following reports of blood clots among some recipients.

On Tuesday, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania became the newest countries to join a growing list of countries banning the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford image over blood clotting concerns. Germany, France, Italy and Spain said Monday they would suspend management of the picture.

The European Medicines Agency, which assesses drug safety for the EU, called a meeting on Thursday to review the findings. So far, it is claimed that the benefits of the outlook when it comes to preventing hospitals and deaths still “outweigh the risks of side effects.” The Health Group agreed of the World, urging countries Wednesday to continue using AstraZeneca images.

Without the results from an upcoming meeting of the European Medicines Agency, it is difficult to say whether the vaccines are causing the reported blood clots, US medical experts told CNBC, but the giant medicine is already a public relations message on its hands. Some doctors in the US are concerned that European countries are responding too quickly to political pressure and fears of safety, and it will take major efforts to rebuild confidence in the vaccine if it is allowed to go back online. .

“There is now a loss of this vaccine,” Dr. William Schaffner, an epidemiologist and professor of immune medicine at Vanderbilt University, told CNBC in a telephone interview.

“I think if the vaccine is to be eradicated – innocently – a public relations effort must be made in Europe and around the world to regain confidence in this vaccine,” he said.

There are no red flags in the USA

Although the AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the U.S., White House Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawyers Wednesday that there is likely to be enough safety and efficacy data to permit of the doses given in April.

When asked if the AstraZeneca ban in European countries could intimidate Americans who were taking other vaccines, Fauci reiterated that the sights will go through rigorous clinical trials and re – check by an independent safety inspection board before they are widely distributed.

“The whole process is both transparent and independent, and we will explain that to people and take the time to address the laziness without controversy,” Fauci told lawyers at a hearing with House for Energy and Trade Committee.

This is not the first time Fauci has stressed the safety of routine vaccines amid the AstraZeneca ban. The infectious disease expert told MSNBC in an interview Tuesday that scientists in the U.S. are carefully evaluating for adverse effects among vaccine recipients, even after they have been authorized and used.

For example, medical experts were concerned about reports of severe allergic reactions – or anaphylaxis – occurring among people who received the vaccine by Pfizer and Moderna injections. However, these cases appear to be rare, he said, even as the country has spread at least one sight to 73 million American adults – more than 28% of the population.

“So far, and you have to keep following these things carefully, there are no safety signs that are red flags,” Fauci said of the vaccines currently in use in the U.S.

Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told Reuters in an interview published Monday that he has been “very encouraged” by reports from European regulators that the problems could be caused by chance.

“I was a little surprised that so many countries decided to stop administering the vaccine, especially at a time when the disease itself is so dangerous in most of these countries,” Collins later told CNN Wednesday, adding that he does not have access to the “potentially shocking primary data.”

More data needed

Serious medical problems like blood clots happen whether people get the vaccine or not. The problem that scientists are now trying to determine is whether vaccines were the culture, Schaffner said.

“We knew in the beginning how we started the vaccination, because we are targeting older adults, medical events happen in that population just every day, even without vaccines, “Schaffner told CNBC.

“It is possible that if you receive the vaccine on Monday, special medical events will occur on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” he said. “The question is: Did the vaccine accelerate, induce or induce these events?”

For its part, AstraZeneca said in a response statement on Sunday, of the more than 17 million people in the EU and UK who received a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, fewer than 40 cases of blood clots were reported as The Week in the past.

The pharmaceutical giant said 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism were reported among those who received the vaccine. These figures would suggest that the adverse events are occurring at a lower level than would be expected in the general population, not higher.

“I don’t think this is true, but I am very concerned because this is the vaccine that we were all counting on around the world,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, told CNBC in a phone interview, adds that the bullet costs less than its competitors. Del Rio noted that, without the data, however, it is difficult to determine whether the stops are appropriate.

“This requires a lot of damage control,” del Rio said.

Politics can be a problem

There are some concerns that the problem with the AstraZeneca vaccine could be more political. It also comes at a dangerous time: Some European countries are still battling another wave of new Covid-19 diseases even when vaccines are in use.

To date, EU vaccine distribution has been slow compared to other countries, such as the US and the UK

“It ‘s a big concern that Europe is not just getting a lot of people vaccinated,” Dr Eseciel Emanuel, Covid’ s adviser to President Joe Biden, told CNBC on Tuesday. “Another reason is that we need to be concerned about Covid’s position in other countries, not just in the United States.

The talks follow a public controversy between the EU and AstraZeneca in January when the pharmaceutical company said it had managed to cut its first dose to the short block. Several European countries also refused to recommend the picture to residents over 65, saying there was not enough evidence to show it was effective, before they reversed that decision.

“That could be … governments are trying to address people’s concerns about the vaccine and the data may not be there,” said Emanuel, a biologist and oncologist who is deputy provost for global campaigns. at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Actions may not follow the data. They will follow more emotional responses to those things,” he said.

– CNBC’s Sam Meredith, Holly Ellyatt and Silvia Amaro he contributed to this report.

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