Filenews 5 April 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
The work of the competent national authorities throughout the EU is now very difficult, since the general questioning of the Astra-Zeneka vaccine and the constant changes in the policies that some of the Member States follow in relation to this preparation clearly jeopardise the vaccination programmes of the Member States which, with the exception of Cyprus, have also officially declared their discomfort with the delay generally observed in the delivery of quantities by all manufacturers.
At the same time, in the general questioning of the safety of the vaccine due to the rare side effects recorded and related to blood clotting, as the authorities also note in Cyprus, in the last two weeks, the reluctance on the part of citizens to be vaccinated with the Astra-Zeneka vaccine has been added, due to the time between the administration of the two doses of the vaccine since this also entails a delay in securing the "green passport" that will be needed, especially for their summer holidays.
"It seems that in the last two weeks people have not generally chosen the Astra-Zeneka vaccine," the Scientific Adviser of the Ministry of Health, Associate Professor at the University of Nicosia Christos Petrou, told "F", adding that "this clearly creates problems in the course of vaccinations, since our vaccination programme has relied heavily on the large quantities that Cyprus expects for this vaccine". This is not a Cypriot phenomenon, of course, and has raised concerns in the Member States.
The reluctance of citizens, Mr. Petrou said, "is mainly about the doubts that have been raised and related to the safety of the vaccine. However, as the weeks go by and we get closer to either Easter or the summer season, we hear citizens thinking about their summer holidays and feel that the 12-week period between the first and second instalments may spoil their holiday plans."
Answers, Mr. Petrou said, "exist on both these issues. With regard to the safety of the vaccine, let us stress once again that we must have confidence in the competent regulatory authorities, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has not come to any conclusion that there is a proven correlation between cases of serious and rare blood clotting adverse reactions and vaccinations". At the same time, Mr. Petrou said, "these incidents have mobilized the EMA evaluation mechanism that has investigated all available vaccines and not just the Astra-Zeneka vaccine, which the debate is focused on."
With regard to the second issue, namely the interval between doses of the vaccine, Mr Petrou recalled that "the official recommendation states that between the two doses it is possible to elapse between four and twelve weeks. A new arrangement could therefore be made in this respect, on the basis of scientific criteria and pending decisions on the green passport in the EU'.
All vaccines, stressed the scientific advisor of the Ministry of Health, "are generally under surveillance after their approval and there is currently an international debate about the J&J monodosic vaccine whose efficacy and degree of protection we will see over time".
The safety of vaccines, however, "is demonstrated in practice. In England, half the population received the first dose of both Phizer vaccines – Astra-Zeneca) and we see a significant decrease in the number of positive cases but especially deaths."
"There are always scientific questions and questions are raised concerning the safety of medicines and vaccines and that is why they are monitored after they have been approved. But someday, the publicity may be too much for other reasons. Safety issues for many medicines are discussed every month" stressed Mr Petrou.
Cyprus, he added, "must also be concerned about Cypriots living in countries that are not members of the European Union and are vaccinated with vaccines that are not approved by the European Medicines Agency". "What about these people?" he asked, explaining that "if a solution is not found and no settlement is made, then these people may be wronged as at the moment, as the Republic of Cyprus, we recognise vaccinations that take place at EU level, vaccinations that take place in Israel and the United Kingdom and up to there". As far as Israel is concerned, he recalled, "which only administers the Phizer-BionTech vaccine, the green passport has an expiry date, six months after the second dose. Is that going to apply to everyone? These are issues that we need to look at."
The Advisory Scientific Committee is expected to be placed on this issue, as reported by the 'F' information.
"Random events should not all be attributed to vaccines"
At the moment, "in the midst of the pandemic, with the number of positive cases increasing alarmingly, any potential "known or unknown" risk from vaccination must be raised against the known risk of the disease caused by the coronavirus," Christos Petrou said, adding that "there should be no question about safety, safety is above all, especially for vaccines given to healthy ones to prevent a disease".
Inevitably, he said, the debate and investigation continue as "it remains uncertain whether the vaccine caused these cases and the mechanism by which blood clotting abnormalities are created in rare cases and why they affect this very small percentage of people." However, he added, "it is clear that the risks of death and serious complications, including blood clots, as a result of COVID-19 disease are judged to be extremely high. Vaccines are given to prevent the disease and what it causes. The risks of the disease are therefore known and much more than the associated with a coagulation abnormality for which there is still no association with the use of the vaccine, according to the EMA'.
"Expected citizens' hesitation"
The reluctance of citizens to arrange their appointment in case the vaccine of their choice is not available was also commented yesterday by deputy director of Medical Services Olga Kalakouta, arguing that "fortunately the hesitation observed is less than one would have estimated".
"I feel that this hesitation will change. The numbers started to go up, the daily vaccinations. I must say that we have reached almost 155,000 doses with over 44,000 citizens having fully completed vaccination. From the cases we see introduced in hospitals or ICU it appears that vaccination coverage at older ages is high. At the age of over 80 it is more than 80%, which protects age groups and they do not need to be hospitalized in ICU", he said and stressed that "vaccinations must continue at the same pace if we want to have a normal summer".
In relation to the concerns expressed about the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Deputy Director of Medical Services said that "official bodies refer to the safety and efficacy of all vaccines." All three vaccines are evaluated, at European level, on the basis of data they receive from EU members. Four weeks ago, some countries said "we don't vaccinate people over the age of 65." This is confusing. So where we need to stay is in the official, confirmed statements and reports. There is the European Medicines Agency where its job is to assess and intervene."
