It would be a tragedy of historic proportions if the great national effort to push Covid-19 back to the margins was now to be dissipated in misunderstandings. It would cost lives, many of them at a time when some countries on the continent are already facing a third wave of coronavirus infections, and epidemiologists cannot rule out such a repeat performance happening in Britain, even if the vaccine programme proceeds smoothly.
The most immediate issue is the decision by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to look into reports of a very rare blood clot possibly being associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. For the moment, the guidance remains that the vaccine is safe, and people should continue to take it. Thus far, more than 31 million British people have received at least one dose, and there are no horror stories. The European authorities have already looked into the blood clots issue, and continued to recommend the widespread use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said that the vaccine is safe and effective, but added that it could not definitively rule out a connection between the jab and the rare clotting events, and so was continuing to investigate. The EMA has denied suggestions it has found any causal link with the vaccine.
As ever in medicine, it is a matter of balancing risks. Given the choice between many more thousands dying from Covid-19 and having to investigate some possible side effects in a vanishingly small proportion of recipients, the arguments for mass vaccination as rapidly as possible remain overwhelming. That the authorities are taking the possible side effects seriously should demonstrate their own caution and conscientiousness about the programme – something that should provide reassurance, as should the experience of tens of millions of people in real-world usage who have suffered only trivial side effects.
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