Following the news that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has confirmed a possible link between very rare cases of unusual blood clots after vaccination with AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Vaxzevria;

Philipp Rosenbaum, PhD, Senior Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“AstraZeneca has had its fair share of bad luck with its COVID-19 vaccine Vaxzevria, but a lack of communication in combination with uncoordinated and confusing decisions about who should get the vaccine from European politics has eroded the public trust in the vaccine. Now a clear message must be sent from European regulators and politicians and the company, that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risk of COVID-19 during the ongoing pandemic.

“The new EMA assessment could significantly slow down the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in the EU and elsewhere, as people might be hesitant to receive Vaxzevria and cancel vaccine appointments, hoping to receive Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s more efficacious and safer mRNA vaccine or Johnson & Johnson’s single dose vaccine instead. Any side effects associated with these vaccines can be disastrous in the eyes of the public, and the confirmed cases of blood clots could sway their opinion in a direction which could negatively impact herd immunity.

“Moreover, the UK has now joined several EU countries in recommending Vaxzevria only to people below certain ages. However, with variants such as B.117 spreading rapidly through Europe, slowing the outbreak and reducing new COVID-19 cases will depend heavily on vaccination efforts; thus, continuation of existing vaccination programs is urgently needed to prevent more cases and deaths in vulnerable populations.

“However, in the long-term, having alternatives such as the mRNA vaccines and single dose vaccines, means that AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria will potentially only play a small role post-pandemic if repeat vaccinations for COVID-19 are needed. There will be enough alternatives, and countries with the needed resources might shift towards vaccines with better efficacy and safety data. In fact, the US is already donating stock of its AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and Canada.

“AstraZeneca’s vaccine will continue to play a significant role in the global fight against the pandemic, given that AstraZeneca and its partner, the Serum Institute of India, are planning to manufacture and distribute more than two billion doses of the vaccine at a low cost globally. However, the company and politicians must make sure that Vaxzevria will not been seen as the vaccine that can be distributed globally, while the US and European countries are trying to count on mRNA vaccines, possibly creating a two-class vaccine system.”