Q&A: Who will be affected by the suspension of AstraZeneca?
Ireland’s National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) announced on Sunday morning that they will be “temporarily suspending” the administration of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine - but what does this mean for the country’s vaccination rollout programme?
Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) said AstraZeneca vaccines will cease to be administered for the time being, due to a report from the Norwegian Medicines Agency, which has found four new cases of serious blood clotting in adults who received the vaccine.
Norwegian health authorities said on Saturday that three health workers, all under the age of 50, who had recently received the AstraZeneca 19 vaccine were being treated in hospital for bleeding, blood clots and a low count of blood platelets.
A person in Austria was admitted to hospital with a blockage in arteries in the lungs (pulmonary embolism) after being vaccinated, while Denmark reported one death involving a blood clot.
A 50-year-old man is also thought to have died in Italy from deep vein thrombosis (DVT), while there has been an unconfirmed report of another death in Italy.
Denmark, Norway and Iceland have also halted the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A small number of reports associated with blood clots have been notified to Irish regulators following vaccination with AstraZeneca.
They were not as serious as those described in Norway, which led to a temporary halt on the drug’s use in Ireland, and the number involved was extremely low, the country’s Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) said.
It has not yet been confirmed whether or not there is a link between people who have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccines and blood clots.
Chair of the NIAC, Professor Karina Butler, said that clotting problems can happen to people whether you have been vaccinated or not, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has also backed the jab's safety, saying there are just 30 reports of blood clots among close to 5m people given the vaccine across Europe.
The majority of people due to receive their AstraZeneca vaccine this week but no longer will, are healthcare workers and the medically vulnerable who fall into category four - those aged 16 to 69 who are extremely high risk.
Dr Glynn said the NIAC felt there was no other choice but to temporarily suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine considering the category of people due to receive those vaccines this week.
“We were very aware we were due to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine to many healthcare workers and high-risk people this week - the NIAC felt they had no other option but to temporarily pause the rollout.”
However, HSE Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) Dr Colm Henry has said those who are over 70 and due to receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines this week will not see any disruption and the programme will continue for them as planned.
Dr Glynn assured those who have received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine that “it may be nothing, we may be overreacting, and I sincerely hope that in a week's time we are accused of being overcautious.”
Muscle pains, aches and fever are common symptoms after receiving most jabs, but Dr Glynn advised those who feel unwell for more than three days after vaccination or notice blue spots on their skin, should consult a medical professional immediately.
Prof Butler has said that it will realistically be the end of the week before any conclusion can be made whether or not they should resume administering AstraZeneca vaccines.
Dr Glynn remains hopeful that it will be just a one week pause while they wait for the EMA to finish their investigation.
“We acted on the basis of safety, we put people’s health first. Hopefully, this programme will be back up and running in the next week,” he said.
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