SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 28 March 2024, Thursday |

Science says it’s safe, but some in France don’t trust AstraZeneca vaccine

A 60-year-old recovering from breast cancer, Paris resident Nadine Roger is at high-risk from coronavirus and wants to get inoculated as early as possible. Nonetheless, when she was offered the vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca, she turned it down.

“The AstraZeneca (shot) frightens me,” she said. Roger, a medical technician, noted that she would wait instead for the shot made by U.S. firm Johnson & Johnson, which has not yet been approved by European regulators.

According to the most recent data made available by the French health ministry, for the end of February, France was using 24% of its AstraZeneca shots, compared with 82% for vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and 37% for the Moderna shot.

That is partly due to logistical bottlenecks, but also because some French people don’t trust the AstraZeneca shot – despite multiple scientific studies that indicate it is safe and effective – according to interviews Reuters conducted with 8 people involved in France’s vaccine rollout.

They said some of those offered the vaccine were worried about side-effects, skeptical it was effective against new variants of the virus, and confused by shifting evidence on how well it works for older people.

The AstraZeneca vaccine had a bumpy genesis.

European regulators recommended it not be used for people over 65, citing a lack of data. French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying the shot was “quasi-effective” and the French regulator urged hospitals to stagger inoculations of their staff after side effects led frontline workers to call in sick.

Jacques Battistoni, head of the largest general practitioners’ union in France, said “all that sent out the wrong signal to health workers, but also the rest of the population.”

To be sure, France is one of the most vaccine-sceptic countries globally, though surveys have showed the proportion of the public intending to get vaccinated increasing.

Like other wealthy countries, France has made the AstraZeneca dose a pillar of its vaccine rollout. With all the big vaccine makers experiencing production issues, countries cannot afford for people to snub one of the shots.

A health ministry official and 2 doctors involved in the rollout said the uptake was accelerating as logistics improve and people get used to the AstraZeneca shot.

AstraZenaca doses were initially to be delivered to hospitals and vaccination centers for the vaccination of healthcare workers, and to general practitioners for the inoculation of 50 to 64-year-olds with pre-existing conditions.

In the first week of the AstraZenaca rollout, which coincided with the start of school holidays, GPs ordered fewer than half of their allocated shots.

At the weekend, the president of AstraZeneca France, Olivier Nataf, told the weekly Journal du Dimanche that his company’s vaccine was entirely effective against severe coronavirus infections and 80% effective in preventing hospitalizations.

“Confusions and disappointments can arise. Many are already resolved,” he told the newspaper. “There may be others. But the enemy remains the pandemic. Any controversy diminishes our ability to overcome it.”

European regulators have concluded the side-effects cause by the AstraZenaca vaccine are not a cause to doubt its safety. A study in Scotland covering 5.4 million people showed it, and the Pfizer vaccine, were highly effective in preventing severe cases of infection.

France, Germany and Italy have changed tack and are now giving the vaccine to people over 65.

Macron said last month the AstraZeneca jab was effective, and he would take it if offered.

    Source:
  • Reuters