Penelope Canonico
03/11/2021 17:07
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/11/2021 6:34 PM
A batch of European countries, including Italy, Norway, Finland and Denmark, announced a temporary pause in the application of the
AstraZeneca vaccine
, developed with the University of Oxford, after having registered severe cases of thrombosis in patients who they had been inoculated.
The study is not conclusive and is under the scrutiny of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The most alarming data is that of a person who died in Denmark due to adverse effects.
The move comes after Austria stopped using a batch of injections, while investigating a death from bleeding disorders and a case of pulmonary embolism.
The Astrazeneca / Oxford vaccine is based on
a non-replicating viral vector
(chimpanzee adenovirus) in whose genome is inserted the gene that encodes the expression of the S protein (spike or spike) of SARS-CoV-2.
In Argentina, at the moment, there is no scientific evidence to justify a suspension.
“All these points are evaluated by the National Immunization Commission (Conain) and have not yet been issued.
It will be ANMAT, the regulatory authority, who determines an eventual measure, ”
Gabriel Battistela, Buenos Aires undersecretary of Primary, Ambulatory and Community Care
, tells
Clarín
, referring to the vaccine that is being used in the City to inoculate people over 80 and residents of geriatric.
So far, 580,000 doses of Covishield / AstraZeneca have arrived in the country and the same is expected in the next few days.
As of April, in addition, the 22.4 million doses that are manufactured in Argentina and packaged in Mexico would begin to arrive in the country.
That is what the Government announced and hopes to pass.
“There is still not enough information
to link the doses applied with the problems described.
Even the countries that have used AstraZeneca the most, such as the USA, still do not have official reports.
The country responsible for Vaccine Safety is CONASEVA.
They are the ones who should analyze the issue ”, they underline in Conain, an organization that remains in permanent contact with the WHO, PAHO and ANMAT.
From the Ministry of Health of the Nation they explained to
Clarin
that "permanent communication is maintained with the regulatory agencies of both other countries such as Anmat, attentive to the information on the safety of the vaccines that arises."
The European regulatory authority (EMA) indicated in a report that there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects, while the issue continues to be reviewed.
From the Ministry of Health of the province of Buenos Aires they assure that they did not receive any complaint in this regard, the campaign follows a normal course, and that they expect new doses of covishield (manufactured in India with the technology of the AstraZeneca laboratory and Oxford University) for the next week.
What do the specialists say?
“It is likely that during the mass vaccination stage adverse effects will appear that were not anticipated.
In any case, it is not clear whether it is a defective batch or an adverse effect of the vaccine, "says Adolfo Rubinstein, former Minister of Health.
In tune, Mario Lozano, molecular virologist and former rector of the
National University of Quilmes (UNQ)
, points out: "Any agent external to the body could produce thrombi (internal coagulation process), but it is necessary to analyze if they were produced as a consequence of the components of the vaccine or if they are the product of other factors ".
“Thromboses are clots that form abnormally within the arterial or venous vascular system.
There does not seem to be a causal relationship, at the moment, between the AZ vaccine and an excess of thrombotic events in patients ”, says Martin Stryjewski, Head of Hospitalization at CEMIC and member of the SADI Board of Directors.
Rodrigo Quiroga, professor at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences of the National University of Córdoba and researcher at Conicet follows the same reasoning: “A precaution was taken in the face of a suspicion, but there does not seem to be a theoretical relationship between the vaccine and the induction of thrombi.
The epidemiological situation in the Nordic countries is not the same as those in South America where winter is approaching and the prevalence and circulation of variants worries the health system.
The possible risk of side effects must be counteracted by not applying vaccines ”, he summarizes.