https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56397592

I'm guessing the politicians in these countries that dropped the ball on advanced procurement need a scapegoat while they wait for ramped up production. So they tell their people it might not be safe for now, stop giving shots that they had little of anyway, and in a month or so when they have a decent supply chain going they will say it's safe and start giving shots again. It coming from England right after Brexit can't help either.

+1000! :cool:

I think you are guessing wrong. There is a significant amount of AstraZeneca vaccine currently not being used due to this. Vaccination appointments being cancelled even though the vaccine is there. This is a a bit of a disaster for all involved. Politicians have nothing to gain from this halt. In fact there are fears that the reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine will suffer even more and to a point were not enough people will want to have it if (more likely when) it gets used again. Also, we are seeing cases rise again and they say we are at the beginning of a third wave which we could control if there was enough vaccine. With the AZ stuff accounting for about 40% of all vaccines here, we have a major problem.

There have been a few more cases of veins in the brain clotting then one would statistically expect and they suspect there might be a connection to this vaccine. Many experts are saying that the benefits still far outnumber the small risks but I guess politicians these days are extremely risk averse and very afraid that someone might day as a result of their inaction. What they may fail to price in though is the fact that some people will likely die because of the delayed vaccinations.

So once again everything points towards incompetence rather than malice.

My guess is the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will either limit the use of AZ in those most at risk for a blood clotting or recommend the use of supplemental anti-clotting medication when using the vaccine. They may also determine none of this is necessary. In any event I expect they will recommend its continued use. I expect this to happen today.

WHO and Euro medical regulator encourage use of AZ vaccine, benefits outweigh any hypothetical statistical risks.

India, Thailand, Australia affirm continued AZ use, Taiwan approved AZ this week. So mixed reviews on the issue, might hint at political chicanery.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/...zeneca-vaccine

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/in...zeneca-vaccine

Article about how India's Serum Institute (private company) got ahead of the vaccine curve early-on...

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...ng-even-bigger

Political chicanery. . . No, never would have guessed it. Someone once said never let a crisis go to waste.

EU nations resuming AZ vaccinations, link to blood-clotting not definitively ruled out.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN2BA25E

An article worth reading:

https://nypost.com/2021/03/18/offici...-institutions/

Possible link to rare blood clots in AZ recipients, suspected to be associated with birth control pills (most patients are young women). The type of blood clotting is already known to be associated with pregnancy and contraceptives.

Also some suspicion that publicity around these events may have lead to higher reporting, which would skew the observed statistical prevalence. It doesn't make much sense, given the suspected auto-immune mechanism, that only AZ but not other other vaccines would produce this side-effect. So there may be heightened sensitivity with the public and healthcare providers to an issue that has other causes.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN2BC01M