Oxford/AstraZeneca jab halted by Germany, France, Italy over blood clot fears

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Germany, France and Italy have halted the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine as a "precaution" following fears over serious side effects.

The countries are the latest EU member states to suspend the jab following advice from its national regulator.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn called it a "precaution" and said there would be further investigation into reports of people suffering blood clots after vaccination, the Mirror reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron and the Italy Medicines Authority later confirmed France and Italy respectively are also suspending the vaccine.

At least nine countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Indonesia, have temporarily stopped using the vaccine.

It follows reports from Denmark and Norway of possible serious side-effects, including bleeding and blood clots.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), Boris Johnson and British experts have sought to reassure people about the safety of the vaccine.

WHO said there is no indication of any links between blood clotting and the administration of the vaccine.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters: "In the MHRA (the UK's medicines regulator), we have one of the toughest and most experienced regulators in the world. They see no reason at all to discontinue the vaccination programme.

"So we continue to be very confident about the programme and it's great to see it being rolled out at such speed across the UK."

The UK medicines regulator said people should carry on getting their jabs as evidence "does not suggest" the vaccine causes clots

The head of the Oxford University vaccine group, Professor Andrew Pollard, said that while it was right that regulators investigated reports of blood clots in people who have had the vaccine, data from millions of people was "very reassuring" that there was no link.

Last week, WHO, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there was no evidence of a link between the jab and an increased risk of blood clots.

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Prof Pollard said "safety is clearly absolutely paramount" but that about 3,000 cases of blood clots occur every month in the UK from other causes.

"So, when you then put a vaccination campaign on top of that, clearly those blood clots still happen and you've got to then try and separate out whether, when they occur, they are at all related to the vaccine or not," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Prof Pollard said that more than 11 million doses have now been given in the UK, and the MHRA has said "very clearly that they're not seeing any increase in the number of cases of blood clots" over what they would see normally.

"I think at this moment we've got the most data from the UK, which looks very reassuring, but of course it's absolutely right that there's careful monitoring of safety and this gets looked into," he said.

The professor pointed to the "huge risks" from Covid-19 for those who are unvaccinated, adding that "if we have no vaccination and we come out of lockdown in this country, we will expect tens of thousands of more deaths to occur during this year".

He continued: "A number of countries around Europe are now seeing an increase in cases again.

"Italy and France and Germany and Poland – all have the start of a new surge in cases.

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"It's absolutely critical that we don't have a problem of not vaccinating people and have the balance of a huge risk – a known risk of Covid – against what appears so far from the data that we've got from the regulators – no signal of a problem."

Elsewhere, Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), also sought to reassure the public and said people should attend their vaccine appointments.

He said that the EMA, the MHRA, the World Health Organisation and AstraZeneca have "all said this vaccine is safe".

He told BBC Breakfast: "The data that we look at on a weekly basis on JCVI and a daily basis at MHRA are reassuring that there is no link, so we are right in this country to press on.

"We will keep monitoring this and if there is any safety signals that we are concerned about, we would let the public know straight away.

"At the moment, the message is absolutely clear – go and get your vaccine when offered.

"I spent all yesterday in our practice vaccinating with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – I would not be immunising my own patients unless I felt it was safe."

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