Medical experts in the United States are trying to assuage fears that Covid-19 vaccines may be unsafe after several European countries suspended AstraZeneca’s shot following reports of blood clots among some recipients.
On Tuesday, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania became the latest countries to join a growing list of nations suspending the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot over blood clot concerns. Germany, France, Italy and Spain all said on Monday they would also stop administering the shot.
The European Medicines Agency, which evaluates drug safety for the EU, called a meeting Thursday to review the findings. So far, it’s maintained that the benefits of the shot when it comes to preventing hospitalizations and deaths still “outweigh the risks of side effects.” The World Health Organization agreed, urging countries on Wednesday to continue using AstraZeneca’s shots.
Without the results from the EMA’s forthcoming meeting, it’s hard to say whether the vaccines are causing the reported blood clots, medical experts in the U.S. told CNBC, but the pharmaceutical giant already has a public relations mess on its hands. Some doctors in the U.S. are worried that the European nations are prematurely responding to political pressure and safety fears, and it will take extensive efforts to rebuild trust in the vaccine if it is allowed back online.
“There’s now been a pall over this vaccine,” Dr. William Schaffner, an epidemiologist and professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University, told CNBC in a phone interview.
“I think if the vaccine is cleared — not guilty — there will have to be a substantial public relations effort made in Europe and around the world in order to restore confidence in this vaccine,” he said.
No red flags in U.S.
While the AstraZeneca vaccine hasn’t been authorized for use in the U.S. just yet, White House Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawmakers Wednesday that there will likely be enough safety and efficacy data to grant the vaccine authorization in April.
When asked whether AstraZeneca’s suspension in European countries could stoke fear among Americans taking other vaccines, Fauci reiterated that the shots undergo rigorous clinical trials and are reviewed by an independent safety monitoring board before they’re widely distributed.
“The entire process is both transparent and independent, and we explain that to people and take the time to address their hesitancy without being confrontative,” Fauci told lawmakers during a hearing by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
This isn’t the first time Fauci has stressed the safety of the current vaccines amid AstraZeneca’s suspension. The infectious diseases expert told MSNBC in an interview Tuesday that scientists in the U.S. continue to carefully evaluate the vaccines as they are deployed for any adverse reactions among recipients.
For instance, medical experts were concerned about reports of severe allergic reactions — or anaphylaxis — occurring among people who were vaccinated with Pfizer’s and Moderna’s jabs. However, those cases appear to be rare, he said, even as the nation has distributed at least one shot to 73 million adult Americans — more than 28% of the population.
“Thus far, and you have to keep following these things very carefully, there are no safety signals that turn out to be red flags,” Fauci said regarding the currently deployed vaccines in the U.S.
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told Reuters in an interview published Monday that he has been “pretty reassured” by statements from European regulators that the problems could be occurring by chance.
“I was a bit surprised that so many countries decided to put pause on the administration of the vaccine, especially at a time where the disease itself is so incredibly threatening in most of those countries,” Collins later told CNN on Wednesday, adding that he doesn’t have access to the “primary data that might have caused them to be alarmed.”