- Sunday, May 19, 2024
By: Sattwik Biswal
THE UK public is cancelling their vaccination appointments in fear after some EU nations paused the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clots concerns.
Doctors involved in the mass vaccination drive in the country say that people due for their second dose are calling in to voice concerns about the vaccine despite officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Medicines Agency and UK regulators having advised to keep using the vaccine because there is no evidence of blood clots linked to the jab.
Former chief of MHRA (Britain’s vaccine regulator) said that European officials have “dented public confidence” with their “disorderly” reaction to the issue.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has urged the public to “keep calm, listen to the regulators and get the jab”.
Dr Raj, who is an NHS surgeon and Imperial College London lecturer and part of a team of volunteers trying to educate people about vaccine, said the hysteria in the EU has had an effect in UK.
Professor Jeremy Brown, who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI), told Good Morning Britain that some European countries by stopping the vaccine are creating more problem.
NHS may not also consider switching to Pfizer vaccine because regulators have not tested if jabs can be mixed in short duration. Moreover, with not many Pfizer doses available in UK, the NHS in order to speed up the vaccination drive does not allow people to make a choice of vaccine.
The UK has so far given 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab.
