Spain also pre-emptively halts vaccinations with AstraZeneca for at least 15 days: here's what we know

With Germany, Italy and France, there are now more than a dozen countries that have suspended the injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine while it is being clarified whether it is linked to the cases of thrombosis detected. For this reason, this afternoon the Ministry of Health urgently convened the Interterritorial Health Council, where all the autonomous communities are represented, to address the issue.

Finally, the Ministry of Health and the autonomous communities have agreed to join the rest of the countries and to paralyze vaccinations with the vaccine until the adverse effects are ruled out.

What is happening with AstraZeneca?

Last week we told you that several European countries (Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia) stopped the use of a specific batch of AstraZeneca’s vaccine as a preventive measure after a warning of a possible side effect in the form of multiple thrombosis. To date, Bulgaria, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland have already suspended the vaccination of the entire vaccine.

We also told you that Spain had received part of this controversial batch and that the communities had stopped using it, but that the Ministry had not yet decided to suspend its use in response to the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency, which suggest that there is no reason to believe that the vaccine was related to these cases of thrombosis. The data from the United Kingdom do not seem to point to such a link either.

Nevertheless, the social debate is on the table and more and more European countries are joining the preventive suspension of vaccinations, making a public demonstration of the strength of the European pharmacovigilance system. For the rest, and this explains the relative delay of Spain in taking the decision, it is assumed that these vaccinations will be resumed soon (once it is demonstrated that, as the data show, the vaccine is not dangerous). Now it only remains to wait for the analyses of the different agencies to be completed; and we will be able to see in what situation AstraZeneca’s injectable remains.

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