WHO continues to recommend AstraZeneca's vaccine
On the basis of the information currently available to them, both the World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency maintain that AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine has more benefits than risks and recommend its use. The decision stands despite new findings published Wednesday by the Agency linking vaccination to rare cases of thrombosis.
Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, Incident Manager for COVID-19 at the Pan American Health Organisation, confirmed and elaborated on the details of this decision at a press conference, explaining that "the Agency's assessment today indicates that 62 cases of rare coagulation disorders, disseminated intravascular coagulation or cerebral venous sinus thrombi have been recorded. That's 62 cases of disorders out of more than 30 million doses administered in Europe".
Aldighieri went on to recommend "strict monitoring of the safety of all vaccines" against the coronavirus and that "reporting and investigation of all reported adverse events" be encouraged.
Continuing on AstraZeneca's vaccines, AstraZeneca Deputy Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa explained that the recent announcement of the suspension of shipment of doses manufactured by the Serum Institute of India through the COVAX* mechanism for equitable distribution of immunisations may affect three countries in the region.
"The Serum Institute of India is distributing vaccines through the COVAX facility to three countries in Latin America. We have these vaccines for Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti. So these countries may be affected by this decision of the Government of India."
Barbosa explained that the director general of the World Health Organisation remains in direct contact with the Indian government.
At the same time, he stressed that many heads of state are also calling on the Indian government to understand that COVAX has an agreement with the Serum Institute, and to make them see the importance of ensuring that these contracts are fully complied with in order to proceed with the delivery of vaccines to other countries.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica received 43,200 doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca today of the nearly 220,000 doses expected during the first round of shipments, while in the Dominican Republic more than 91,000 doses arrived last night of the more than 2 million doses the country expects to receive through COVAX.
In the face of the vaccine shortage, Barbosa noted that AstraZeneca has two new sites in Europe, one in Italy and one in Spain, which will be used to supply more vaccine to COVAX. Both sites are awaiting authorisation from the World Health Organisation through the Emergency Use Listing Procedure, a decision that could come as early as next week.
He added that he expects a limited number of Pfizer and Janssen vaccines from June onwards in June and in July.
Dr Carissa Etienne said more than 1.3 million new cases and more than 37,000 deaths were reported in the region last week.
Etienne said that more than half of all deaths worldwide in the past week occurred in the Americas.
By region, he noted that in North America, cases and hospitalisations are increasing in Canada, while infection rates are declining in the United States and Mexico.
He also pointed to fewer cases in Belize, El Salvador and Panama, but warned of an increase in new infections in Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.
"But nowhere are infections as worrying as in South America, where cases are on the rise in almost every country. In areas of Bolivia and Colombia, cases have doubled in the last week, and all four Southern Cone countries have experienced an acceleration in COVID-19 cases, with uninterrupted community transmission in recent weeks. At the same time, Intensive Care Unit beds are approaching maximum capacity in Peru and Ecuador," he warned.
He added that during the last week, the United States, Brazil and Argentina were among the top ten countries in the world with the highest number of new infections worldwide.
*COVAX is part of an unprecedented global effort to provide vaccines for at least 20% of the population in each participating country by 2021 to protect those most at risk of severe forms of COVID-19 and save lives. In the Americas, 36 countries will receive vaccines through the COVAX Mechanism, of which 26 will be self-funded and ten will receive vaccines at no cost.
The Pan American Health Organization's Revolving Fund is the mechanism designated by COVAX to procure the vaccines on behalf of countries in the region.
