Europe and late confidence in Covid vaccines

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on March 18 concluded that AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective after many countries reported blood clotting.

But experts say this move is too late, the previous suspension of use has shaken many people’s trust in the AstraZeneca vaccine.

While Britain has administered more than 11 million vaccine doses, EU leaders face the question of how to rebuild the trust in AstraZeneca lost over the past few weeks.

An Elabe poll this week showed that only 22% of the French population trusts the AstraZeneca vaccine.

`People are being overly cautious,` said Remi Salomon, a senior member of a hospital in this country.

Michael Head, a research expert in Global Health at the University of Southampton, UK, added: `This type of fear can make them hesitant about vaccines. Vaccination needs to be redeployed very quickly.`

Volunteers participating in AstraZenenca’s Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial, October 2020.

The AstraZeneca vaccination program across the continent faces countless difficulties.

Now, European health officials are scrambling to make up for lost time.

`We must vaccinate as quickly as possible,` said Michel Chassang, a French general practitioner and president of the French Medical Federation.

`This will not be easy at all. We have to go against the tide, because this vaccine has had a bad reputation since the beginning of its deployment,` he admitted.

In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine on March 19.

`The Oxford vaccine (AstraZeneca) is safe, the Pfizer vaccine is safe, the only thing that is dangerous is Covid-19. People should continue to get vaccinated when it is their turn,` he said.

Actual data from the UK shows that one dose of vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization due to Covid-19 by more than 80% in people over 80 years old.

Experts evaluate the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine at Oxford University.

In fact, in more than 10 countries that have stopped using the vaccine, cases of blood clots are very rare.

The agency noted there have been `very few cases of concurrent blood clotting and thrombocytopenia` following vaccination.

Jon Gibbins, Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at the University of Reading, said: `The statistics are very small, not higher than the general population level. When starting to vaccinate millions of people, no