this week we're going to look at a
puzzle
of how a vaccine that was hailed as a
vital achievement finds itself in a
scientific
and political storm i think it is sort
of some kind of
social or fear based contagion i mean
there's no rational basis to this this
is a perfectly safe vaccine
and this is what natasha loader is
talking about
france germany and italy are among
several countries to suspend the use of
the astrozenica vaccine
over safety fears in the last 10 days
these european countries have all
restricted the use of astrazeneca's
vaccine
many have completely suspended it and
all have acted on concerns about blood
clotting despite there being no evidence
to link this vaccine
and blood clotting and this is the
latest message from the eu's medicines
regulator
this vaccine is safe and effective in
preventing covet 19
and its benefits continue to be far
greater
than its risks but these aren't the
first issues that astrazeneca has faced
far from it
first of all there was the initial
information that the company released
one headline read why oxford's positive
covid vaccine results are puzzling
scientists
here's another after admitting mistake
astrazeneca faces difficult questions
about its vaccine
the article goes on to say experts said
the company's spotty disclosures
have eroded confidence in other words it
wasn't clear enough
about its data also back in january
emmanuel macron said
the real problem on astrazeneca is that
it doesn't work the way we were
expecting it to
today everything points to thinking it's
quasi-ineffective
on people older than 65. mr macron was
wrong though there was a shortage of
data for the over 65s
but everything suggested the vaccine
would be effective
but by this point a perception was
developing here's the bbc's europe
correspondent gene mckenzie reporting
that belgium's medical advisor has told
me that people here have nicknamed it
the aldi
vaccine after the supermarket because
they see it
as the budget option and this evidence
isn't just
anecdotal this recent poll found 20
percent of people in france have
confidence in the astrazeneca vaccine
for pfizer it's 52 percent and while
confidence in astrazeneca falls in
europe
infections of covid rise this is my
colleague
nick peake in prague in paris
and once again in bergamo in northern
italy
covid patients gasp for air the
nightmare prospect of a third wave in
europe
is now real there's also the speed of
europe's vaccine rollout it's far
slower than the uk and the us as you can
see
so infection rates hospitalizations
vaccination speed
the astrazeneca jab could help address
all of these
but there are at least four reasons why
things have become
complicated pr process politics
and first patients norwegian patients
the clusters of patients that we are
talking about are not the more common
clots like deep brain thrombosis
these are very rare and severe cases
with critical outcome in a very young
population where
this is not commonly seen and norway's
decision
has influenced other countries as this
expert explains
once one of them starts doing it then
they get a collective anxiety
they don't want to be standing out they
don't want to be the only ones going on
delivering it
and if norway's decision is the first
factor the second
is politics astrazeneca finds itself in
the middle of broader political tensions
between the uk
and the eu this was the eu's warning
this week
we want to see reciprocity and
proportionality
in exports and we are ready to use
whatever tool we need to deliver on that
and this is all about astrazeneca and
where the doses produced in the uk are
being fairly distributed to the eu
and the threat to restrict vaccine
exports was greeted
this way by one uk cabinet minister who
told politico
it's got to the stage where this has
become naked jingoism from the eu
against britain they hate brexit they
hate that our vaccine rollout
has gone so well now the eu would
dismiss that but the performance of
every vaccine rollout is political and
because astrazeneca is one of the main
vaccines in europe and the uk
it's become politicized there is though
another explanation for this vaccine
situation
it's a third factor process tom nuttle
is the economist berlin correspondent he
tweets
you don't need to conjure baroque
theories to explain why european
regulators steeped in precautionary
principles ill-suited to a pandemic
are following their usual bureaucratic
logic
keep tom's comments in mind as we listen
to emmanuel macron
we are led here by a simple guide
informed by science
and the relevant authorities also doing
so within the framework
of a european strategy that word
framework is crucial
the issue with astrazeneca is whether
those frameworks have led to a decision
out of step with the urgency of the
moment and if those frameworks have
stopped countries addressing
a fourth factor pr because once
questions exist about a vaccine
they can spread rapidly this is a senior
u.s
epidemiologist this is part of the
challenge we have with vaccine
confidence
if i tell you that vaccine a or drug a
is involved with something and it gets
for example
on the internet suddenly you'll have a
number of people saying look at i took
that same drug or i took that same
vaccine
and now look what happened to me because
regulators politicians and astrazeneca
aren't just taking decisions about
science they're taking decisions about
information
and as astrazeneca acknowledges the
pressure that brings
is enormous this has been for me
probably the toughest thing i've ever
worked on in terms of the goldfish bowl
environment that you're in
where every single thing is scrutinized
politicized
turned around misrepresented that was
probably
inevitable faced with a vast global
problem astrazeneca was billed as a key
part
of the solution it still is now though
this vaccine is becoming a real-time
lesson in how our systems and our
politics are struggling to cope with
this pandemic
and with how doubt and suspicion are
easily created
and very hard to erase it's a lesson
being learnt the hard way