Across the EU, countries are once more offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to their populations. The use of this vaccine was paused due to concerns it may cause blood clots, although the prevalence was lower than expected in a general population. However, this was not the first time that the AstraZeneca vaccine’s safety has been questioned by EU member states.
Germany, Austria and France stopped offering it to over-65s in late January, after the German newspaper Handelsblatt incorrectly reported that the vaccine was only 8% effective in that age group. This has now been disproven, but ‘insufficient evidence’ meant that the respective governments did not immediately change their policies. In fact, it was not until March that senior citizens were once again invited for AstraZeneca vaccinations — before it was paused again, despite the European Medicines Agency deciding the vaccine is ‘not associated’ with blood clots.
Their excessive precaution may have magnified unproven issues, allowing them to stick in the public psyche.
There are questions over why certain EU countries have flip-flopping policies on the vaccine: is it the Precautionary Principle? Is it to reassure the vaccine-hesitant? If anything, it seems to have had the opposite effect. In France especially, unwillingness to be vaccinated poses a huge threat: in February, only 57% said they would take the vaccine if offered it, compared to 89% in Britain. Rather than convincing the population that the government would take any and all possible vaccine problems seriously, their excessive precaution may have had the opposite effect: magnifying unproven and poorly evidenced issues which will then stick in the public psyche.
We saw this with the conspiracy theory that the MMR vaccine causes autism: one questionably funded research paper led to widespread rejection of the vaccine worldwide, despite the researcher being struck off and his results declared fraudulent. Already, media reports have found that many EU citizens would have refused an AstraZeneca vaccine – a frightening prospect, given the third wave of COVID-19 beginning to ravage the continent.
An increase in the number of people avoiding vaccinations would be a devastating blow to the continent.
The average number of vaccine doses per 100 people is less than 20 in Europe – far fewer than the almost-50% vaccinated in the UK. An increase in the number of people avoiding vaccinations would be a devastating blow to the continent – alongside struggling supply, poor uptake would leave them worryingly unprotected while dealing with this third wave.
Boris Johnson has stressed that this surge in infections could easily “wash up on our shores”, and so has promised to create a win-win situation for both Britain and the EU. Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders have criticised Johnson’s supposed ‘vaccine nationalism’, prioritising Britain, and have revised regulations to allow vaccine exports to be blocked. This could have untold consequences. Ingredients for the Pfizer vaccine alone are supplied by 19 different countries around the world – if they followed suit, very few countries would be able to manufacture and access any vaccines at all.
Vaccine negotiations are ongoing, and may result in increased supply to Europe. Although this would limit Britain’s access to vaccines, the benefit to Europe would far outweigh this – if EU residents want to be vaccinated. The effects of constantly shifting advice are yet to be seen, but they are unlikely to be beneficial.
Georgia Douglas
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