BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Health officials from the UN and the European Union are meeting on Tuesday to review the safety of Oxford-AstraZeneca anti-coronavirus vaccine as European countries continue to halt its use following reports of possible side effects.
The World Health Organization's Secretary General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that its Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has been reviewing available data on the vaccine and will meet with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday.
'This does not necessarily mean these events are linked to vaccination, but it's routine practice to investigate them, and it shows that the surveillance system works and that effective controls are in place', Tedros said at a news conference.
Monday, five more European countries - Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Spain - decided to suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of patients developing blood clots after inoculations from two batches produced in Europe.
They join Austria, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Ireland, which have either temporarily halted AstraZeneca vaccine inoculations or delayed its roll out as a precaution.
These nations took the decision despite advise by the European Medicines Agency that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks. The European Union's medicines regulator did not recommend suspending its use.
EMA said its vaccine safety experts are looking in detail at available data and clinical circumstances surrounding specific cases to determine whether the vaccine might have contributed or if the event is likely to have been due to other causes. EMA's safety committee (PRAC) will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday. The EU medicines regulator has also called an extraordinary meeting on Thursday to declare its decision on the continued use of the COVID-19 vaccine.
'As soon as WHO has gained a full understanding of these events, the findings and any unlikely changes to current recommendations will be immediately communicated to the public,' WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.
WHO Assistant Secretary-General Dr. Mariângela Simão said the agency is working very closely with the EMA and with national regulatory authorities in Europe and other regions to assess the adverse effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine and all other vaccines.
WHO has not received reports about 'thrombo-embolic events' in other parts of the world, she added.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX