Matthew Hauser '23 | Opinion: AstraZeneca Vaccine? Safe and Effective. Germany's Rollout? Not So Much.

Via DW

The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective. It is Germany’s best hope for defeating COVID-19. Germany previously had received high marks for a comparatively competent handling of the virus, and Angela Merkel was rewarded in opinion polls for that work. But the German government, along with other European nations, made a disastrous mistake in temporarily halting the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, “baffling” experts. The decision to stop giving AstraZeneca vaccines was based on concerns of increased blood clot risk among the elderly. 

This decision has since been reversed, following the E.U.’s announcement that the AstraZeneca vaccine in fact does not increase the risk of blood clots. “This is a safe and effective vaccine,” EMA Director Emer Cooke said, adding “If it were me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow.” The danger was not real, the decision made no logical sense, and will only fan the flames of vaccine hesitancy, making the pandemic endgame more difficult. 

The problem with this flip-flop by European governments is that the blood clot danger was minimal to begin with. Out of the 17 million people vaccinated in Europe, including many from the U.K., there were only 37 reports of blood clot incidents, much lower than blood clot levels occurring naturally in the population and similar to other vaccines. Jens Saphn, the German Health Minister, said the suspension was a “precautionary measure.” It appears that the government reacted to the potential of a very rare but serious problem. 

But even if the AstraZeneca vaccine increased clot risk, which it absolutely does not, it would still have been the wrong call. Officials did not properly account for the known harm of not distributing the vaccine- more deaths from COVID-19. While the possibility a few severe incidents can seem scary, allowing the status quo to continue would be much worse, requiring society to hunker down and bear the social costs of restrictions for even longer. COVID-19 is known to cause blood clots itself. The risk-reward calculus was entirely off in that decision. 

Additionally, we already tolerate such risks all the time for certain benefits. We drive cars despite the dangers of automobile accidents. We take medicines that sometimes have rare, serious side effects. We eat unhealthy foods with known long-term serious risks. But for the AstraZeneca vaccine, not only is the threat not real, the supposed risk was low, and the reward is substantial. Increased population immunity to COVID-19 saves lives, saves health, and ensures society can soon return to greater social interaction. These tremendous benefits were all put on the line by that decision. 

The E.U. made the right call by calming fears over the AstraZeneca vaccine’s risks, and governments made the right call resuming the administration of AstraZeneca vaccines. Even so, precious days have been lost. Germany, already suffering from vaccine hesitancy problems, has merely compounded the issue, making the end of this saga look further away and harder to achieve.

The German government now must work to restore the public’s confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine. Despite whatever recovery efforts they may take, the damage, counted in days wasted, lives lost, and new vaccine hesitant Germans, has been done.

Disclaimer: The author of this piece is not a doctor. The author of this piece is not giving medical advice.