Washington (AFP)
Another setback for the global vaccination campaign with the suspension announced Tuesday of the anti-Covid vaccine from Johnson & Johnson in the United States and South Africa, and the delay of its deployment in Europe, due to the rare occurrence of serious blood clots.
The American authorities on Tuesday recommended "a pause" in the injections of the vaccine of the American group Johnson & Johnson, while affirming that this would "not have a significant impact" on the immense vaccination campaign, since these doses represent less 5% of those administered in the United States so far.
"There are enough vaccines for every American, it is quite indisputable," Democratic President Joe Biden assured Tuesday.
More than 6.8 million doses of "J&J" have already been administered in the United States and the United States Drug Agency (FDA) is investigating six cases of women who developed severe cases of blood clots after receiving this vaccine.
"One case has turned out to be fatal and one patient is in critical condition," said an FDA official.
"We are very much aware that this is a very rare event. We want to address this issue as quickly as possible," said Anthony Fauci, White House adviser on the pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country's leading federal public health agency, will meet on Wednesday to assess these cases.
- Strong mistrust -
Following the recommendations of the health authorities, several American states such as New York, Connecticut, Nebraska and Ohio have ordered the immediate suspension of the administration of the Johnson & Johnson serum.
South Africa in turn announced Tuesday to suspend the use of the single-dose vaccine, until the "cause and effect relationship between the development of clots" and its administration "is sufficiently analyzed," said the minister. of Health Zweli Mkhize.
Canada has chosen to maintain its orders, the first deliveries of which are scheduled for the end of the month.
European countries risk suffering further delays in their vaccination campaign, Johnson & Johnson having announced Tuesday "delay the deployment" of its single-dose vaccine against Covid-19 in Europe.
The EU has signed on to a firm order for 200 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, plus an option for an additional 200 million.
The group pledged Thursday to deliver 200 million doses by the end of the year.
In Belgium, the doses already delivered will be "put in the freezer", pending an opinion from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) expected Wednesday, was indicated Tuesday evening within the "Vaccination Task Force". on foot by the Belgian health authorities.
The appearance of these complications is reminiscent of those linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, on which the European Medicines Agency is investigating, and which has caused strong mistrust against it in the population and the interruption of its use in several countries, in particular Denmark. .
The two vaccines use the same technology using an adenovirus as a vector.
In the case of AstraZeneca, there were on April 4 222 cases of these atypical thromboses out of 34 million injections carried out in the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein) and the United Kingdom, according to the EMA.
This resulted in 18 deaths (as of March 22).
- 800 million doses -
Vaccination continues nonetheless across the globe, where millions of Muslims began Ramadan "unlike any other" on Tuesday for the second year in a row.
On the first day of this month of fasting, Turkey announced a tightening of restrictions, after recording on Tuesday nearly 60,000 new cases of Covid-19 and 273 deaths, its record since the onset of the pandemic.
Faced with concerns around the Brazilian variant of Covid-19, France on Tuesday suspended "until further notice" all flights between Brazil and France, announced French Prime Minister Jean Castex.
In the Netherlands, it was time to hope for a relaxation of measures, the government having announced Tuesday a possible lifting of the curfew and the opening of terraces at the end of April, if the situation allows it.
More than 806 million doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been administered in at least 200 countries and territories, according to a count made by AFP from official sources on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. GMT.
Strong inequalities remain between "high income" countries as defined by the World Bank, which concentrate almost half of the doses administered in the world, and "low income" countries, where only 0.1% were administered. doses.
About twenty countries, mainly located in Africa and Oceania, have not yet started their campaign.
They are home to 4% of humanity.
Israel, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Chile and the United States are the countries whose countryside is the most advanced (excluding countries of less than one million inhabitants).
Worldwide, the pandemic toll is approaching three million deaths, including more than a million in Europe, according to a count made by AFP from reports provided by the health authorities.
burx-led / cjc
© 2021 AFP