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* More than a dozen EU members act over thrombosis concerns
* Drug regulator to issue guidance on Thursday
* German health minister under fire at home over crisis
management
* "Nobody is being forced to do anything" - Berlin source
By Douglas Busvine and Ludwig Burger
BERLIN, March 17 (Reuters) - The decision by more than a
dozen European countries to suspend AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 shot faced deepening scrutiny on Wednesday, amid
concerns the step could undermine public confidence and delay
efforts to beat the coronavirus pandemic.
The role of Germany, and in particular Health Minister Jens
Spahn, is in the spotlight after a chaotic round of telephone
diplomacy at the start of the week ended with the EU's biggest
states agreeing to put AstraZeneca on hold.
Spahn says he acted on expert advice after Germany's vaccine
watchdog reported on what it described as a statistically
significant number of cases of a rare brain blood clot.
AstraZeneca says it has found no evidence that the blood
clots were caused by the vaccine. The World Health Organization
called on countries not to delay lifesaving vaccine programmes.
Germany's actions have been interpreted as political both at
home and abroad, with opposition leaders calling on Chancellor
Angela Merkel to sack Spahn. Officials in major European
capitals have given mixed accounts over how the joint move to
halt AstraZeneca came about.
The stop on AstraZeneca threatens to hobble Europe's
vaccination campaign just as a third wave of infection breaks
over the continent, accelerated by more infectious variants.
The bloc has already lagged far behind the United States and
former EU member Britain in vaccinating citizens. Hospitals are
filling up again, and politicians in several European countries
have been forced to consider fresh lockdowns, even as
comparable rich countries prepare for normal life to return.
"We need this vaccine," said Germany's best-known virologist
Christian Drosten, whose regular podcast is widely followed. He
cited forecasts of a resurgence in infection by Easter that
could endanger Germans over the age of 60 who are next in line
for a shot.
Ian Jones, a professor of virology at Britian's Reading
University, said the blood clot issue had "been picked up by
politicians who don't know one side of a virus from another".
"It's like falling dominoes. You just need one or two
(countries) to state there's a problem and suspend use, and then
a whole lot of others will fall in place. I don't think there
have been any independent decisions," he told Reuters.
A MATTER OF TRUST
Germany acted after its vaccine oversight body, the Paul
Ehrlich Institute, found seven cases of a very rare cerebral
vein clot among 1.6 million people given the AstraZeneca shot in
the country, including three cases that were fatal.
The EU drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA)
is investigating reports of around 30 cases of blood clots,
bleeding and low platelet counts among the 5 million people in
the EU that have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
It will present its findings on Thursday, but meanwhile it
has found no causal link to the vaccine, and says the shot's
benefits clearly outweigh any risks.
"We are worried that there may be an effect on the trust of
the vaccines," EMA head Emer Cooke told reporters. "But our job
is to make sure that the products that we authorise are safe and
can be trusted."
AstraZeneca Plc said it had conducted a review covering more
than 17 million people who had received its shots in the EU and
Britain, and had found no evidence of an increased risk of blood
clots.
Yet a narrow majority of Germans believe it was right for
the government to suspend AstraZeneca, a Forsa opinion poll
showed on Wednesday, with 54% backing Spahn's decision and 39%
saying it was excessive.
The willingness of Germans to be vaccinated against COVID,
at 71%, meanwhile, has fallen by two percentage points since
Forsa's last poll on March 3. Were AstraZeneca to be reinstated,
63% would be willing to take it.
NO PRESSURE
Officials in European capitals gave conflicting accounts of
a round of whirlwind diplomacy on Monday that led Italy, France
and Spain to follow Germany in suspending the shot.
Sources said Merkel telephoned Italian Prime Minister Mario
Draghi to brief him. One top Italian health official called
Italy's suspension a political decision not to part ways with
Germany.
Italian sources said Draghi and French President Emmanuel
Macron agreed by phone that the measure was temporary and
precautionary.
A senior German government source denied that Berlin had
exerted any pressure, noting that smaller EU member states such
as Austria and Belgium had already raised the alarm.
"Nobody is being forced to do anything," said the German
source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "That's not how the
EU works."
Amid the European controversy, frustration over Spahn's
pandemic management has boiled over among Germany's ruling
conservatives, who have just suffered defeats in two regional
elections. Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) are languishing at
one-year lows in polls ahead of a general election in September
in which she will not seek a record fifth term.
Her successor as CDU chairman, Armin Laschet, a contender to
run for chancellor, has criticised the AstraZeneca delay as "bad
news". Rival Markus Soeder, the governor of Bavaria, has called
for the shot to be made available to anyone who wants it.
(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in BERLIN, Giselda
Vagnoni in ROME, Michel Rose in PARIS, Nathan Allen and Belen
Carreno in MADRID and Kate Kelland in LONDON
Writing by Douglas Busvine
Editing by Peter Graff)
