Canada Pauses AstraZeneca Vaccine for People under 55

Canada has suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people under age 55 on March 29 addressing the concerns that it might be linked to rare blood clots.

Key Points

• The National Advisory Committee on Immunisation had recommended the pause of the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for safety reasons.
• After this, the Canadian Provinces, which administer health in the country, have announced the suspension.
• Shelley Deeks, vice-chair of the National Advisory Committee on ImmuniSation, there is substantial uncertainty about the benefit of providing AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to adults under 55 given the potential risks.
• The updated recommendations come amid new data from Europe that suggests the risk of blood clots is now potentially as high as one in 1,00,000, much higher than the one in one million risks believed before.
• Most of the patients in Europe who developed a rare blood clot after vaccination with AstraZeneca were women under age 55, and the fatality rate among those who develop clots is as high as 40%.

The AstraZeneca shot, which has been authorized in more than 70 countries, is a pillar of a U.N.-backed project known as COVAX that aims to get COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries. It has also become a key tool in European countries’ efforts to boost their sluggish vaccine rollouts. That makes doubts about the shots especially worrying.