CNCAV specialists: No reasons to interrupt vaccination with AstraZeneca

Specialists of the National Committee for the Coordination of anti-COVID-19 Vaccination Activities (CNCAV) state that "there are no scientific and regulatory reasons for discontinuing the vaccination with AstraZeneca."

A debate on this topic was organized on the 'Ro Vaccinare' official Facebook page.

The discussion was initiated after CNCAV decided on Thursday evening that over 4,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, coming from a batch for which Italy decided to temporarily suspend the administration, will be temporarily quarantined, but vaccination will continue with the serum from the other batches.

Asked what happens to people who are already scheduled for the first dose of AstraZeneca if they should go get immunized, experts say that "scientifically and legally, there is no reason to stop vaccinating with the AstraZeneca vaccine."

"It has proven its safety profile in clinical trials. Any batch, before commercialization, must be certified in terms of quality. Thus, the risk-benefit balance is still in favor of vaccination," they said.

Regarding quarantined batches in Europe, experts show that the European Medicines Agency continues to evaluate all reports of adverse reactions, as it normally does, and investigates thromboembolic and coagulation events reported post-vaccination.

According to the quoted source, "from the information so far," the number of thromboembolic events "is not higher" than the usual percentage.