Canada advisory board recommends pause on AstraZeneca vaccine for 55 and under

Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) on Monday recommended against using the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in adults under 55 while it is “investigated further” for concerns that it’s linked to blood clots.

“NACI recommends that AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine should not be used in adults under 55 years of age at this time while the safety signal of Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) following vaccination with AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is investigated further,” the organization said in a press release.

“Following population-based analyses of VIPIT assessing risk of COVID-19 disease by age, and considering that alternate products are available (i.e., mRNA vaccines), from what is known at this time, there is substantial uncertainty about the benefit of providing AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to adults under 55 years of age given that the potential risks associated with VIPIT, particularly at the lower estimated rates,” the NACI added.

The NACI recommended that people who receive the AstraZeneca vaccine be made aware of the potential side effects and to be on the lookout for symptoms of blood clots such as “shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling, persistent abdominal pain, neurological symptoms including sudden onset of severe or persistent worsening headaches or blurred vision, skin bruising (other than at the site of vaccination) or petechia.” Petechia is pinpoint bleeding that occurs on the skin that may appear as a rash of red, brown or purple dots.

The group added that Canada is expected to have a sufficient amount of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, to immunize the entire country by the fall of 2021.

The provinces of Quebec, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island have already suspended use of the AstraZeneca for people 55 and under, The Associated Press reported, due to concerns that it may be linked to blood clots.

According to a separate press release released by Health Canada on Monday, no such cases of blood clots related to AstraZeneca’s shot have been observed in Canada.

“In light of this evolving information, Health Canada will be issuing additional terms and conditions on the authorizations of the AstraZeneca and Verity Pharmaceuticals/Serum Institute of India vaccines. These will include a requirement that the manufacturers conduct a detailed assessment of the benefits and risks of the vaccine by age and sex in the Canadian context,” the release said.

Around a dozen European countries including France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Norway temporarily suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, made in partnership with Oxford University.

The European Medicines Agency, Europe’s top drug regulator, later announced in March that it had found the AstraZeneca vaccine to be safe and effective though it said it could not rule out a connection between the shot and blood clots.

Several of the European countries that suspended its use have since resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine.

According to Health Canada, more than 3.4 million people in Canada have received at least shot of a coronavirus vaccine. That accounts for just under 10 percent of the country’s population. More than 965,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Canada, with nearly 23,000 related deaths.