Germany is now also suspending vaccination against the coronavirus with the vaccine from AstraZeneca. The Federal Ministry of Health announced this in Berlin on Monday.
After new reports about thrombosis of the brain veins in connection with the vaccination, further investigations are necessary. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide “whether and how the new findings will affect the approval of the vaccine”.
Just hours before that, Germany (and Great Britain) said they would continue to use AstraZeneca. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had also previously stated that there was no noticeable accumulation of thromboses in connection with the vaccination.
Most recently, the vaccination commission in Great Britain had spoken out in favor of a temporary stop of vaccinations with the preparation that the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca developed together with the University of Oxford. It is a precautionary measure.
Previously, some European countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland or Denmark had suspended vaccinations with the Astrazeneca agent for the time being. In Denmark and Norway, isolated cases had become known of severe blood clots after the vaccine was given. No cases of serious side effects have been reported in the UK to date.
In Austria, a 49-year-old nurse from the Zwettl State Hospital died as a result of severe coagulation disorders, a 35-year-old colleague developed a pulmonary embolism, but was recently on the mend. In these two cases in Lower Austria, the women concerned had previously received vaccinations from the same batch of the Astrazeneca vaccine
Germany another country with a stop
This makes Germany the next country after Denmark, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, Bulgaria and Romania that will no longer use the British-Swedish vaccine for the time being. In Austria the vaccine, which is supposed to be better than its reputation, continues to be inoculated.
According to the Polish Minister of Health, the benefits of the Astrazeneca vaccine outweigh the risks. “At the moment, we continue to assume that the advantages in terms of greater protection for the population outweigh the risks,” says Adam Niedzielski.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is reviewing reports related to the safety of Astrazeneca’s vaccine. So far, there has been no evidence that there is a connection between the vaccine and health impairments, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in a statement to Reuters. “It is important that vaccination campaigns continue to save lives.” It is normal in such large-scale vaccination campaigns for countries to point out undesirable side effects. However, this does not mean that they were actually caused by the vaccine. As soon as the WHO has comprehensive knowledge, the public will be informed about them as well as about changes to the current recommendations, which are currently rather unlikely. (Reuters, red)