European Medicines Agency official confirms link between AstraZeneca vaccine and thrombosis



AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19. – Gustavo Valiente / SPUTNIK / SIPA

It’s an interview that will make noise. European Medicines Agency (EMA) official confirms ‘link’ between AstraZeneca coronovirus vaccine and cases of thrombosis observed after its administration, in an interview with the Italian daily Il Messaggero published Tuesday.

“We can now say it, it is clear that there is a link with the vaccine. What causes this reaction, however, we do not yet know (…) To sum up, in the next few hours we will say that there is a link, but we still have to understand how it happens ”, says Marco Cavaleri, manager of the vaccine strategy, while the EMA is due to meet on the dossier from April 6 to 9.

Cases of cerebral thrombosis in young people question the EMA

“We are trying to obtain a precise picture of what is happening, to define precisely this syndrome due to the vaccine (…) Among the vaccinated people, there is a number of cases of cerebral thrombosis in young people higher than that. what we would expect. We will have to say that, ”he said again.

For several weeks, suspicions have appeared on possible serious side effects, but rare, after the observation in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca of cases of atypical thrombosis.

Only a few cases

Dozens of cases have already been identified, several of which have resulted in death. In the UK, there have been 30 cases and seven deaths out of a total of 18.1 million doses administered as of March 24. In France, the Medicines Agency (ANSM) has identified twelve cases [de thromboses], including four deaths in people who have been vaccinated with this serum, without being able to establish a link at this stage.

So far, the EMA has maintained that “no causal link to the vaccine is proven,” even though it is “possible,” and that the benefits of vaccination against the coronavirus always outweigh the risks.

Vaccine suspended in Norway and Denmark

For Paul Hunter, a specialist in medical microbiology at the University of East Anglia interviewed by AFP, “the evidence points rather in the direction that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is indeed the cause”.

As a precaution, several countries have decided to no longer administer this vaccine below a certain age, such as France, Germany and Canada. Norway and Denmark have suspended its use altogether for now.

For its part, AstraZeneca assured in March that there was “no evidence of aggravated risk”, and assured Saturday that “patient safety” was its “main priority”.



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