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April 23, 2021
Ema's analysis of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid "examined the prevention of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths due to Covid-19, based on various assumptions of the vaccine's effectiveness to contextualize the onset of these unusual clots of blood".
"It has shown - writes the EMA - that the benefits of vaccination increase with increasing age and infection rates".
The second dose is recommended
The EMA committee recommended continuing to administer the second dose of Vaxzevria, the AstraZeneca vaccine, between 4 and 12 weeks after administering the first in line with the product information. "The committee considered recommendations to give the second dose of Vaxzevria after an interval longer than the recommended 4-12 weeks, not to give a second dose at all, or to give an mRNA vaccine as a second dose," explains the agency in a note. "Exposure and follow-up time were not sufficient to determine whether the risk of blood clots with low platelets after a second dose will differ from the risk after the first dose. There are currently no or limited data to modify. the current recommendations ", continues the EMA.
Serious side effects one in 100,000 cases
The AstraZeneca vaccine "is effective in preventing hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths due to Covid-19. The most common side effects are generally mild or moderate and improve within a few days. The effects more serious collateral are very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low platelets, which are estimated to occur in 1 in 100,000 vaccinated people, "the EMA said.
Rare thrombosis causes still unknown
"We do not yet know the mechanism behind this type of event", that is, the rare cases of thrombosis after the AstraZeneca vaccine, "and we are conducting an investigation to understand why" said Marco Cavaleri, head of strategy vaccinal of the Ema, during the press conference on the updating of the scientific opinion on the AstraZeneca vaccine.