Filenews 12 April 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
In detail, Cypriot scientists have been studying all the data on the AstraZeneca vaccine over the last 24 hours, which they consider necessary to set up a special monitoring committee while, as we are informed, the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee are preparing to discuss the matter at their next teleconference, without excluding, inter alia, the preparation of a proposal for a revision of the vaccination programme.
Speaking to "F", the scientific advisor of the Ministry of Health on vaccine issues for the coronavirus, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Christos Petrou, expressed the view that it is necessary "to implement risk minimisation measures and specific protocols for diagnosing and treating these conditions, as well as setting up a multi-thematic Ad hoc committee of experts, in order to give the right recommendations and address possible incidents, however little statistical they may be".
"The European Medicines Agency," he said, "has given each country the freedom to decide how it wants to use the vaccine, based on its epidemiological picture and availability of other vaccines. Taking as an example the United Kingdom, where the vaccine was discontinued for people under 30, he said that "the recommendation in the UK, which is obviously done according to the epidemiological picture, seems to be better than ours. Surely the recommendation would be different if there was more dispersion and it was further back in vaccination."
The need for a discussion of a scenario that provides, if necessary, for the revision of the vaccination programme of Cyprus, stressed for his part the head of the EES, a specialist physician specializing in infection control, Assistant Professor Konstantinos Tsioutis, explaining to "F" that "a vaccination programme is a dynamic process and must be renewed on the basis of the new evidence that emerges, adapt to the needs and response of the world , with a view to the safety and health of the population'.
The capacity of the vaccination programme means that, "depending on the data and the response of the public, priority may need to be changed" and at this time, "given recent events, there is a questioning of the safety of the Astrazeneca/Oxford vaccine by a portion of the population". This is precisely 'the reason why we need to study the available data and consider a possible revision of the vaccination programme, always with the aim of ensuring the safety of the public and ensuring maximum effectiveness'. In times of pandemic, he said, "it makes sense to come up with new data. It is therefore necessary to continuously study and document scientific data'.
