- stop the AstraZeneca vaccine they keep pouring. After Germany, Italy, France, Holland and Spain Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden have also joined the list of countries that have decided to temporarily block the administration of the vaccine produced by the Anglo-Swedish company as a precaution. Previously a. a dozen countries, starting with Denmark, had opted for this choice. So everything is closed until Thursday, the day on which the EMA will communicate its final decision on the AstraZeneca vaccine after three days of analyzes and extraordinary meetings. In the meantime, however, the director of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, reiterated during a press conference that "the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine are greater than the very rare cases of thrombosis". The number one of the EMA, has made it known that checks are underway to establish if there are correlations between the vaccine and cases of death. And answering a question, he added that "an investigation into some specific AstraZeneca lots is underway".
Pending a final decision from the European authority, vaccination campaigns across Europe have slowed down. The impact of the suspension in all countries, including Italy, is considerable. from us, tens of thousands of reservations have jumped. According to calculations, Lombardy would have put over 33 vaccinations on standby, in Lazio the activities of the Fiumicino and Nuvola Vaccination Center are completely at a standstill and the same scenes are seen in all Italian regions.
“The choices made and shared today by the main European countries on Astrazeneca have been accepted only as a precaution waiting for the next decisive EMA meeting. We are confident that already in the next few hours the European agency will be able to definitively clarify the matter ”, explained the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza. Despite the reassurances, uncertainty only further disorients citizens and even before the stop established by AIFA, thousands of vaccinations had been skipped for fear of the "possible" effects, we recall, not proven, of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
What should anyone who had a reservation do to receive a dose of the vaccine these days? It is not yet clear and, as per tradition, the Regions proceed in no particular order. It will be necessary to decide whether to ask those who had the appointment to connect again to the site and make the reservation again or whether to establish everything upstream and then communicate the new date to the citizens affected by the decision. For the moment, however, there would be no problems for who has already received the first dose of the Astrazeneca vaccine and is awaiting the second. At least three months must pass between one administration and the next and therefore the country would have plenty of time to think about counter-moves in the remote case in which the EMA decides for a definitive stop.
The evolution of the coming weeks will be fundamental. According to data provided by the Ministry of Health, without AstraZeneca, by the end of March there would be a risk of falling from over 7 million doses delivered (including those of Pfizer and Moderna) to just over 4 million. An almost halving that would jeopardize the new vaccination campaign organized by General Francesco Figliuolo. The latter had already assured that in the event of delays in deliveries of Astrazeneca it could be compensated with Pfizer, but if the very use of the Oxford product were questioned, despite all the experts continuing to reassure about its use, the times they would inevitably lengthen. The response from the EMA will arrive on Thursday and until then, in any case, it is good not to draw hasty conclusions.
The national plan provides that, starting from mid-April, in conjunction with the arrival of the first doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the number of vaccinations carried out in Italy will have to rise. Without AstraZeneca, however, the situation risks getting complicated.
