A photo illustration of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the Copes pharmacy in Streatham on February 4, 2021 in London, England.
Dan Kitwood | Getty Images
Medical experts in the US are trying to allay fears that Covid-19 vaccines may be unsafe after several European countries suspended AstraZeneca’s shot after reports of blood clots in some recipients.
On Tuesday, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania became the youngest countries to join a growing list of nations to stop using the AstraZeneca Oxford shot because of blood clot problems. Germany, France, Italy and Spain said Monday they would also stop administering the shot.
The European Medicines Agency, which assesses drug safety for the EU, convened a meeting on Thursday to review the results. So far it has been claimed that the benefits of the shot in preventing hospitalizations and death still “outweigh the risk of side effects.” The World Health Organization agreed and on Wednesday urged countries to keep using AstraZeneca’s shots.
Without the results of the upcoming European Medicines Agency meeting, it’s hard to tell if the vaccines are causing the reported blood clots, US medical experts told CNBC, but the drug giant already has a PR mess on its hands. Some doctors in the US fear that European nations are reacting prematurely to political pressure and safety concerns, and extensive efforts will be required to restore confidence in the vaccine when it is approved online.
“This vaccine is now a problem,” said Dr. William Schaffner, epidemiologist and professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, told CNBC in a telephone interview.
“I think if the vaccine is cleared – not guilty – there will have to be a significant public relations effort in Europe and around the world to restore confidence in this vaccine,” he said.
No red flags in the US
While the AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the U.S., White House Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anthony Fauci informed lawmakers on Wednesday that there will likely be enough safety and efficacy data to get dosing approval in April.
When asked if the suspension of AstraZeneca in European countries could create anxiety among Americans taking other vaccines, Fauci reiterated that the shots will undergo rigorous clinical trials and verified by an independent safety oversight body before they become widespread.
“The whole process is both transparent and independent and we are explaining this to people and taking the time to address their hesitation without being confrontational,” Fauci told lawmakers during a hearing with the House Committee on Energy and Trade.
This isn’t the first time Fauci has stressed the safety of the current vaccines amid AstraZeneca’s suspension. The infectious disease expert told MSNBC in an interview on Tuesday that scientists in the US are carefully examining the side effects of vaccine recipients, even after they have been authorized and used.
For example, medical experts were concerned about reports of severe allergic reactions – or anaphylaxis – in people vaccinated with Pfizer and Moderna’s shock. However, these cases seem rare, he said, even though the nation has distributed at least one shot to 73 million adult Americans – more than 28% of the population.
“So far there are no safety signals that turn out to be red flags and you need to monitor these things very carefully,” said Fauci of the vaccines currently in use in the US
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told Reuters in an interview published Monday that he was “fairly reassured” by statements from European regulators that the problems might arise randomly.
“I was a bit surprised that so many countries decided to stop vaccine administration, especially at a time when the disease is so incredibly threatening even in most of those countries,” Collins later told CNN on Wednesday and added that he has no access to the “primary data that may have led to an alert”.
More data needed
Unwanted medical problems like blood clots occur regardless of whether people are vaccinated or not. The problem scientists are now trying to determine is whether the vaccines were the culprit, Schaffner said.
“We knew in the beginning when we started vaccinating that since we are targeting older adults, medical events would only occur every day in this population, even without vaccines,” Schaffner told CNBC.
“It is possible that if you were vaccinated on Monday, certain medical events could occur on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” he said. “The question is, did the vaccine speed up, fail, or cause these events?”
For its part, AstraZeneca said in a statement on Sunday that of the more than 17 million people in the EU and UK who have received a dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, fewer than 40 cases of blood clots have been reported to date Week.
The pharmaceutical company said that 15 events involving deep vein thrombosis and 22 events involving pulmonary embolism were reported among those vaccinated in the EU and the United Kingdom. These numbers suggest that adverse events occur less often than expected in the general population, not higher.
“I don’t think this is real, but I am very concerned because this is the vaccine we all count on worldwide,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine at Emory University’s medical school, told CNBC in a telephone interview, he added that the shot costs less than its competitors. However, Del Rio noted that without the data it is difficult to determine whether the suspensions are appropriate.
“This requires extensive damage control,” said del Rio.
Politics could be the problem
There are some concerns that the issue with AstraZeneca’s vaccine could be more political. A dangerous time also comes: some European nations are battling another wave of new Covid-19 infections, even when vaccines are used.
So far, the introduction of vaccines in the EU has been slow compared to other countries such as the US and UK
“It is a major concern that Europe just doesn’t have that many people vaccinated,” said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, former Covid advisor to President Joe Biden, told CNBC on Tuesday. “It’s another reason we need to be concerned about the Covid situation in other countries, not just the US.
The suspensions follow a public dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca in January when the drug company said it was forced to cut its initial dose supply for the block. Several European countries also initially declined to recommend the shot to residents over 65 as there was insufficient evidence that it was effective before that decision was reversed.
“It may be that … governments are trying to respond to people’s concerns about the vaccine, not necessarily the data,” said Emanuel, a bioethicist and oncologist who served as vice provost on global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania acts.
“Actions don’t necessarily follow data. They follow more emotional responses to things like this,” he said.
– CNBC’s Sam Meredith, Holly Ellyatt and Silvia Amaro contributed to this report.
