“Such a situation was not unexpected. If you vaccinate millions of people, accidents are bound to happen. Our role is to investigate the effects and understand if they are related to the vaccine ». This was stated by Emer Cooke, executive director of the European medicines agency, in the conference underway on the platform of the European Commission to update EU citizens on investigations on the effects of the AstraZeneca vaccines. At the moment, he stressed, “there are no indications” on a link between the vaccine and the cases of thrombosis that have led some EU countries to suspend the administration of the drug produced by the Anglo-Swedish company. But the analysis is proceeding apace and will lead to the extraordinary meeting on March 18. The agency has turned its light on “some specific batches” of the drug.
«We are evaluating every side effect of this vaccine – he said – last week he released a first report we said very clearly that the benefits outweigh the risks. We have gathered the experts, the process is underway ». The anomalous cases recorded, Cooke said, “are very few. There are thousands of people who develop thrombosis. The cases registered are no higher than those that are normally registered ».
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The stop of the EU countries to the vaccine
Ema’s clarification comes after several European countries have suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine as a “precaution”, in response to reports of some blood clotting events in a period following the administration of the drug. Among the member states to opt for the stop were Italy, Germany, France, Spain and several others. Belgium decided to continue, considering the serum ‘safe and effective’. A line similar to that of the United Kingdom, which has inoculated doses of the vaccine to 10 million citizens without encountering an abnormal number of adverse events.
«Ema is collecting cases from all over Europe both in terms of the quality of the batches and the clinical aspects to see if some common element emerges and it is a real signal or it is all coincidental. In terms of benefit-risk with the numbers that exist, even the Italian ones, I doubt that the EMA’s assessment will change. The EMA will be able at most to detect something in a few batches ». Thus the former director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Guido Rasi, guest of ‘Buongiorno’ on Sky Tg24, who warns: “Stop frightening, let’s get vaccinated and keep monitoring”.