OXFORD UNIVERSITY SUSPENDS ASTRAZENECA VACCINE TRIAL ON CHILDREN

Wed 07 April 2021:

The University of Oxford said it had suspended administering doses of the vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) it developed with AstraZeneca in a UK study on children and teenagers aged 6-17, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

The pause is due to rare blood-clotting issues in adults who took it, pending further information about the vaccine.

No safety issues have been noticed in the trial, an Oxford spokesman said Tuesday, but broader concerns about clotting problems in adults triggered further regulatory reviews in the UK and Europe to probe into any potential link with the coronavirus vaccine.

“Whilst there are no safety concerns in the paediatric clinical trial, we await additional information from the MHRA on its review of rare cases of thrombosis/thrombocytopaenia that have been reported in adults, before giving any further vaccinations in the trial,” the university said in a statement.

“Parents and children should continue to attend all scheduled visits and can contact the trial sites if they have any questions.”

The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) revealed on Saturday that seven people in the country had died from rare blood clots after getting the shot out of a total of 30 identified cases, while more than 18 million doses were administered in the country.

The British regulator said it wasn’t clear if the shots are causing the clots.

In Geneva, the World Health Organization said its experts were also evaluating a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and rare blood clots — and that it might have a “fresh, conclusive assessment” before Thursday.

Earlier, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was investigating incidents with patients who received shots from one batch of AstraZeneca vaccines in several EU countries and who later had thromboembolic complications.

A number of European countries, including Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Denmark, Bulgaria, Norway, Iceland, Slovenia, Cyprus, Italy, France, Germany and Spain, suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The EMA later made a recommendation to continue using the medicine, after which a number of countries resumed vaccinations with it.