Countries to maintain vaccination drives amid concern of side effects

posted by mike kraft on Wed, 2021-04-14 10:38

Covid-19 live updates: World struggles to maintain vaccination drives amid mounting reports of side effects To date, more than 45 percent of the eligible U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose though the number of new cases continued to trend upward at an average of 11 percent over the past week. At least 562,000 people have died. Erin Cunningham Washington Post

Governments around the world are scrambling to sustain already slow-moving vaccination drives amid troublesome news of very rare but severe side effects from two of the most prominent vaccines developed to fight the pandemic.

Multiple countries had already restricted use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot after European regulators flagged the vaccine as having potential links to extremely rare but potentially fatal blood clots.

Now that U.S. federal authorities have recommended pausing administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to similar clots, and while regulators investigate, governments in Australia, Europe and South Africa are also halting the shot’s rollout or scrapping plans to purchase more doses.

An abrupt call by federal health officials Tuesday to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine threatened to slow progress against the pandemic in the United States, as new infections trended upward nationwide.
About 7 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered, and there have been only six reports of blood clots, a rate of about 1 in 1.1 million vaccinations.
President Biden tried to reassure Americans that there will be enough coronavirus vaccine shots for “every single solitary American” when asked about the pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Pfizer has ramped up its vaccine production and will deliver 10 percent more doses to the United States by the end of May than previously agreed, the company’s chief executive Albert Bourla said Tuesday.
To date more than 45 percent of the eligible U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose, though the number of new cases continued to trend upward at an average of 11 percent over the past week. At least 562,000 people have died. ...

ALSO SEE: Europe's vaccine rollout hit by doubts over J&J, AstraZeneca shots

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