EU health agency to give verdict on safety of AstraZeneca vaccine

Ireland temporarily suspended administration of the vaccine last weekend. Picture: PA

The European Medicine Agency’s safety committee will conclude its safety review of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine today, and issue a recommendation as to whether countries should continue to use the jab.

Ireland temporarily suspended administration of the vaccine last weekend, following reports from Norway of four incidents of serious blood clotting in adults who were inoculated.

However, there is optimism here that the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) will give the vaccine safety clearance following the review.

Earlier this week, EMA executive director Emer Cooke said there was no indication that vaccination has caused the conditions.

Uncertainty and anxiety

The suspension of the vaccine here caused uncertainty and anxiety for many cohorts of society. 

Ann Marie O’Neill, chief executive of Thrombosis Ireland, said the temporary suspension led to an “unbelievable” number of calls from anxious patients in the past week.

Hundreds of thousands of Irish people take blood-thinning medication because of an increased risk of blood clots.

She said, however, that no link with the vaccine had been proven to date and the charity awaited the findings of the EMA’s investigation.

Ms O’Neill said people with severe Covid-19 are at greater risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot and urged everyone to be aware of the signs and symptoms, which can include swelling or pain in the leg, shortness of breath, or coughing up blood.

Public health doctor Dr Gabriel Scally, meanwhile, said the decision to pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was a sign of a functioning and “very, very cautious” immunisation advisory committee, which is “proactive in speaking out”.

Suspected side-effects

Up to February 25, a total of 3,484 reports of suspected side-effects were notified to the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA). 

Most of the side effects were mild to moderate, and there were no incidents as severe as those reported in Norway, the authority said.

The State has received a total of 758,490 Covid-19 vaccines to date, the majority of which have been the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, according to the latest figures published on Wednesday. As of March 14, 617,050 doses had been administered.

“Currently, about 95% of available vaccines are administered within seven days of arrival in Ireland," the Department of Health said.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, 557 additional confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported to the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), along with a further 17 deaths.

The figures bring the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 4,566, and the total number of confirmed cases to 228,215.

Of the deaths reported on Wednesday, nine occurred in March, four in February, and four occurred in January or earlier. The median age of those who died was 81 years and the age range was 51 to 94 years.

Of the cases notified: 

• 262 were men 
• 291 were women 
• 74% of cases in people under 45 years of age 
• The median age was 29 years old

Some 229 confirmed cases were reported in Dublin, 58 were found in Kildare, 34 in Donegal, 31 in Meath, 24 in Tipperary and the remaining 181 cases were spread across all other counties.