European Nations Suspend The AstraZeneca Vaccine

Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands have joined the growing list of countries that have suspended the use of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford over blood clot concerns.

According to CNBC, the Dutch government said Sunday that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine would not be used until at least March 29, while Ireland said earlier in the day that it had temporarily suspended the shot as a precautionary step.

On Monday, the German government also said it was suspending its use, with the vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, calling for further investigations. The Italian medicines authority made a similar announcement on Monday afternoon and French President Emmanuel Macron also said the vaccine’s use would be paused pending a verdict from the EU’s regulator.

• Thailand on Friday became the first Asian country to halt the use of the jab over safety concerns, shortly after Denmark announced a two-week pause to its nationwide rollout after reports of blood clots and one death.
• Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, stressed on Thursday that there was no indication the shot was causing blood clots, adding it believes the vaccine’s benefits “continue to outweigh its risks.”
• AstraZeneca has said the vaccine has been studied extensively during Phase 3 trials and peer-reviewed data confirms the shot is “generally well tolerated.”

The first Jamaican said to have received the #COVID19 vaccine is Public Health Nurse Mrs. Marcia Thomas Yettman.

The Jamaican government continues the role out of the vaccine which began on March 10. There are no update from the Andrew Holness government on the latest issues with the vaccine.

Jamaica secured 34 million United States dollars or 5 billion Jamaican dollars to purchase vaccine some 3.5 million doses of vaccine to vaccinate 2 million Jamaicans. The Health and Wellness Minister’s Office have released the statement that Jamaica is to receive between 146,400 and 249,600 doses of #AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine by middle of February 2021. This means that some 125,000 Jamaicans could receive vaccines by the end of February into March.

The AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in Jamaica at the Norman International Airport this afternoon and were received by the Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, and the Indian High Commissioner, His Excellency Rungsung Masakui. The Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Modi (@narendramodi) and the people of India.The Covishield vaccine was developed in a collaboration between Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. It is manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India.

The Serum Institute of India said on Friday August 7, 2020 it would receive $150 million in funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the GAVI vaccines alliance to make 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for India and other emerging economies as early as 2021.