Ireland is suspending the use of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID as a precautionary measure following further reports of blood clots in people who’ve received it, this time from Norway.
The deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, said Ireland’s advisory body on vaccines had advised that deployment of the AstraZeneca jab should be momentarily suspended with immediate effect, although he emphasised that there was no evidence that the vaccine had caused the blood clots.
The first reports of blood clots in people receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine came out of Austria and created a flurry of concern, leading to several European countries, including Denmark, discontinuing their use of it pending investigations.
Ireland cited the report into a death and three hospitalisations in Norway and Dr Ronan Glynn said that following new data received from the Norwegian Medicines Agency, and following talks with the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) had advised that the administration of the COVID 19 Vaccine AstraZeneca be provisionally suspended from Sunday 14 March.
He said that this recommendation had been made following a report from the Norwegian Medicines Agency of four new reports of serious blood clotting issues in adults after vaccination with COVID 19 AstraZeneca.
He said it had not been decided if there were any connections between the COVID 19 vaccine AstraZeneca and those cases. However, acting on the precautionary principle, and pending receipt of further data, the NIAC had recommended the interim deferral of the COVID 19 vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination programme in Ireland.
And he maintained that the NIAC was scheduled to meet again and that a further report would ensue thereafter.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority in the United Kingdom said that millions of people had already been given the AstraZeneca jab without any significant side effects and that the number of blood clots and brain haemorrhages in people vaccinated recently were no more than was expected in that size of population.
And that very rare cases can’t be detected in clinical trials, but that medical authorities around the world will now want to review any reports of severe or unexpected side effects.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency is investigating the cases of four people under 50 who had the AstraZeneca jab.
The agency said that one died and the others were admitted to the hospital, and all had a diminished number of blood platelets, but we must note that this was only with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Also, this side effect affected only a tiny percentage of recipients, and overall, the vaccine is still reasonably safe, and not everyone reacts the same, and not all vaccines are created alike.
It might not be due to the vaccine, but we still need to be extremely careful.
Millions of Americans have been lining up for their COVID 19 shots, and while some people have had pain, fatigue, or fever afterwards, most of the side effects have been mild. However, there’s recently been a headline about a rare blood disorder – a malady called immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) that reportedly occurred in a small number of people after getting their COVID vaccine.
You also have to remember that these vaccines have been brought to us by warp speed, and many people will choose not to have the vaccine. The problem is that the powers that be all over the world will restrict what you can do without being vaccinated.
Sadly vaccines have become our saviours, and we’re not even sure if this vaccine will work, and if they’d been vigilant enough, these companies would have identified problems with the vaccine while it was being trialled, and before it was approved, but it’s not like the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t have a history of covering up data.
