[News] AstraZeneca tries to regain confidence in its vaccine with new data, while the European Union postpones the analysis of the Russian Sputnik V

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Vladimir Putin criticized Europe's position on the vaccine in his country and said that on Tuesday he will be vaccinated.

The European Union (EU) continues with its vaccination while putting pressure on producers with whom it has already made contracts and leaves the analysis of the Russian vaccine for later.

European officials such as Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, have defended the European blockade of vaccine exports as a tool to “force” pharmaceutical companies, mainly AstraZeneca, to fulfill their contracts.

The minister assured that this measure "is not intended to penalize any third country, but to force pharmaceutical companies to fulfill their contract," reports EFE.

González referred to the warning that the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, made to the United Kingdom last week that Brussels could block the shipment of vaccines to that country if London continues without exporting part of the drugs to the EU of AstraZeneca manufactured in two British plants, which, according to the contract signed with the company, correspond to the 27 countries of the EU.

However, González Laya said that "the smartest thing would be for the EU and the United Kingdom to work together to support AstraZeneca's efforts to expand its production", as it has already warned that in the first half of the year it will distribute only 100 million dose to the EU, in breach of what was agreed. This is why she will be one of the foreign ministers I spoke to with her British counterpart, Dominic Raab, at a NATO meeting this week.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca continues to defend the use of its vaccine after the doubts that have arisen in recent weeks and now claims that it is 100% effective in preventing severe forms of the disease and does not increase the risk of blood clots, after tests clinics conducted in the United States.

This vaccine is cheaper and easier to store than many of its rivals, but its use was questioned when several European countries and other parts of the world suspended its distribution last week due to isolated cases of blood clots.

The European regulatory agency and the World Health Organization have said that the injection of the vaccine developed by Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is safe and that there is no evidence of risks about clot formation, prompting France and Germany to resume vaccinations. But public confidence in the drug has plummeted, according to a survey by market analysis firm YouGov, conducted between March 12 and 18.

 

New data
The laboratory offered new guarantees on Monday, noting that trials in more than 32,000 people in the United States showed that the vaccine is 79% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in the po[CENSORED]tion and 100% in avoiding severe forms of the disease. and hospitalization, and it does not increase the risks of blood clots.

It is 80% effective for those over 65, according to the laboratory. Several countries had suspended the drug to older people due to a lack of data among older participants in previous trials.

"This review recognizes the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as one of the much-needed vaccination options," said Ann Falsey, a professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and one of the researchers who conducted the trials. .

 

Russian vaccine relegation

When consulting him about the possibility that Spain buys other vaccines such as the Russian Sputnik V in view of these delays, Laya assured that Madrid will only acquire drugs validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), among which is not the one in Moscow.

Regarding this issue, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said that Europe does not "need" the Russian vaccine, in statements to the French channel TF1.

"Sputnik V is a complementary vaccine, we have 350 million doses," declared the European commissioner, who also assured that "the Russians have difficulties to manufacture it and (that) without a doubt we will have to help them," according to AFP. Other officials have confirmed that they are not negotiating to buy doses of this vaccine.

For these positions, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, affirmed that the European authorities are slowing down the approval of the Russian vaccine.

"We do not force anyone to do anything (...) but we ask ourselves about the interests that these people defend, those of the pharmaceutical companies or those of European citizens," Putin pointed out.

In addition, Putin also claimed that he "intends" to get vaccinated on Tuesday, a long-awaited announcement, set as early as December he said he planned to do so.

Meanwhile, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the EMA had promised to send a group of experts to review the results of the vaccine trials on April 10.

While that happens, new manufacturers of Sputnik V continue to be added, as the Indian pharmaceutical group Virchow Biotech agreed to produce 200 million doses. A total of 500 million doses will be produced in India, including this contract and two more with other companies, according to AFP.