Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

WHO Discusses   Safety of AstraZeneca Vaccine Tomorrow   


Mon 15 Mar 2021 | 10:06 PM
Ahmed Moamar

 

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today, Monday,  that the organization will discuss tomorrow, Tuesday, the safety of the vaccine, the British-Swedish "AstraZeneca", against the Coronavirus ( COVID-19).

"The WHO Vaccine Safety Committee was studying the available data and was in close contact with the European Medicines Agency, and it will hold a meeting tomorrow," Ghebreyesus said during a press conference today.

Ghebreyesus considered the decision of some European countries to suspend the use of the "AstraZeneca" vaccine a "routine" matter, and proof that the control system is working and effective.

Germany, Italy, France, Spain, and some other European countries announced the suspension of the use of the "Astra Zeneca " vaccine, after reports of deep vein thrombosis cases in a number of people who received the vaccine.

In March, several deaths were recorded in the European countries due to thrombosis of veins, without confirming the link between that and the vaccine.

The World Health Organization said that its advisory body is examining reports related to the "AstraZeneca" vaccine against Corona, and has confirmed that there is no evidence that it has created any health problems in its recipients.

In statements to "Reuters" today, Monday, Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the WHO, said: "As soon as the   organization reaches a full understanding of these events, it will immediately present all the results and any unexpected changes to the current recommendations to the general public."

He added: "To this day, there is no evidence that the accidents resulted from receiving the vaccine, and it is important that the vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and prevent severe illnesses from the virus."

On the other hand, the organization’s spokeswoman, Margaret Harris, said in an interview with the Russian "Novosti" agency, that the process of examining the reports would take an entire week.

According to the World Health Organization, as of March 8, in the European Union and Britain, 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism were recorded among people who received the "AstraZeneca" vaccine, whose total number exceeded 17 million.