The World Health Organization and European Commission voiced support for the AstraZeneca vaccine Wednesday as regulators investigate whether blood disorders in recipients are linked to the shots.
WHO issued a statement saying it believes the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks, so vaccinations should continue as European regulators pore over medical data and get ready to release their findings Thursday.
Roughly a dozen countries — including Italy, France and Germany — paused their rollouts of the AstraZeneca version of the COVID-19 vaccine. Some experts questioned those moves, given the extent of the pandemic and the likelihood a certain number of people in any given population would experience blood clotting and similar disorders.
“In extensive vaccination campaigns, it is routine for countries to signal potential adverse events following immunization,” WHO said. “This does not necessarily mean that the events are linked to vaccination itself, but it is good practice to investigate them. It also shows that the surveillance system works and that effective controls are in place.”
The head of the European Commission also endorsed the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“I trust AstraZeneca, I trust the vaccines,” Ursula von der Leyten said Wednesday.
She said Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are delivering on their contracts but acknowledged that AstraZeneca “under-produced and under-delivered” even before the reported incidents arose.
Despite those hiccups, she said the European Union can still reach its goal of getting 70% of the population vaccinated by the end of summer.
The U.S. is outpacing the EU in COVID-19 vaccinations, but it hasn’t approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use because it is still in clinical trials across America.
On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told Congress that either the AstraZeneca vaccine or a candidate from Maryland company Novavax would likely be the next one approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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