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Date Published: 26/04/2021
ARCHIVED - EMA urges governments to administer second dose of AstraZeneca to anyone who has had a first shot
The Spanish Health Ministry remains undecided and has said that a decision has not yet been taken in Spain
The EMA insists that there is no evidence to suggest that a second dose would increase the risk of thrombosis
Despite concerns about the possible risk of blood clotting, the Committee of Human Medicine (CHMP) from the European Medicine Agency (EMA) recommends that everyone who has received the first dose of AstraZeneca be given a second shot, regardless of their age, and they have strongly advised against mixing doses from two different vaccines.
Furthermore, the EMA urges countries to administer the second dose of AstraZeneca within 4 to 12 weeks of the first, as they insist that this is a better solution than not giving any second dose at all or mixing the AstraZeneca with a different type of vaccine, such as the Pfizer or Moderna, which use a completely different biochemical technology.
They maintain that there is no reason or evidence that supports changing the initial recommendations, as dictated by laboratory protocol, for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Committee, CHMP, continues to insist that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh the risks in adults of all ages, despite the rare case of thrombosis (blood clotting). They also clarify that there is no scientific evidence that receiving a second dose of this vaccine increases the risk of blood clots.
The EMA has approved an increase in the batch size for the Pfizer vaccine at the Puurs factory in Belgium and recommended opening up a new production line at the Moderna vaccine production plant at the Rovi factory in Spain.
Meanwhile, the Spanish health ministry remains undecided about whether to administer a second dose to those who have been given a first AstraZeneca vaccine in Spain, most of whom are under the age of 60 and are essential workers.
Initially the vaccine was only given to this group, which includes firemen, police and teachers, but after the clotting problems were highlighted, the decision was taken to only administer AstraZeneca to those agreed first 60 to 65 and then 60 to 69.
The Spanish minister maintains that there is still plenty of time to make the decision before the recommended period during which vaccines must be administered, concludes.
Research is currently being carried out in Spain to ascertain whether it is safe to mix vaccines and the ministry is currently maintaining the line that the results of this research will be part of their final decision-making process.
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