Damaging the reputation of AstraZeneca vaccine 'possibly killed thousands', says Oxford scientist
A scientist at Oxford University, who worked on the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, has criticised scientists and politicians, especially decision-makers in the European Union, for damaging the reputation of the jab that "probably killed hundreds of thousands of people", reports BBC.
Sir John Bell, Regius professor at Oxford University, said: "They have damaged the reputation of the vaccine in a way that echoes around the rest of the world".
"I think bad behaviour from scientists and politicians has probably killed hundreds of thousands of people - and that they cannot be proud of," Sir Bell told a BBC Two documentary titled "AstraZeneca: A Vaccine For the World?" which will air on Tuesday, February 8.
Despite the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being a success story as it was developed and rolled out in less than 12 months after the pandemic with the ambition to create it for the world, it became sidelined in the EU and was never approved in the US.
Politics and nationalism got in the vaccine's way, said Bell
"I don't think it made relations with Europe any easier than it was promoted as the British vaccine," he told BBC.
Prof Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute in Oxford, where the vaccine was developed, said "There was too much nationalism".
"It was encouraging competition between vaccine types, between countries. That's the last thing you want in trying to control the pandemic and provide vaccines for the world," Hill added.
UK's approval of the vaccine came at a time when Britain formally separated from the EU.
Later, advisers to the UK government recommended an alternative vaccine for people under-40 due to AstraZeneca's link to a very rare blood clot - estimated at one in 65,000 overall - which led to fears in countries across Europe to pause their use of the jab.
It also did not play a significant role in the booster campaign in the UK. The BBC reported that the AstraZeneca vaccine accounted for only 48,000 of the more than 37 million booster doses given in the UK.
When EU regulators finally agreed that the vaccine's benefits outweighed its risks, most lifted their suspension but placed age restrictions on the jab.
The clots issue and the simplicity of the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA jabs not having age restriction sealed the AstraZeneca vaccine's fate after the booster campaign.
AstraZeneca had also agreed to allow production and distribution of the jab globally so that it could be sold not-for-profit, for about £3 a dose – one-fifth of the price of the Pfizer's jab.
A key player in this deal- the Serum Institute in India, the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines – was barred by the Indian government from exporting the vaccine to low- and middle-income countries as per the agreement when the Delta wave of Covid-19 hit India hard in 2021.
The suspension remained in place for over six months, causing an acute global shortage of vaccines.
"Once India shut that door…the sense was we are truly well and truly done for because at that point, that was the only hope," says Dr Ayoade Alakija of the African Union Vaccine Delivery Alliance.
By the time the UK, US, France and others began offering booster doses in September last year, just one in 100 people in low-income countries had managed to get two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, reflecting the stark difference between rich and poor countries.
"By the time you got through the first half of 2021, enough doses have been manufactured that could have prevented almost all of the deaths in the second half of 2021 - if those doses had been targeted at older adults, those with health conditions and healthcare workers all over the world," Prof Andrew Pollard from the Oxford Vaccine Group told BBC.
"We haven't got it right. But how do you make politicians comfortable with the moral imperative that there should be in a pandemic?" he added.
Dr Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organisation termed it a failure of the world to distribute vaccines fairly.
"We're allowing this virus to evolve, to mutate, to present in more rapidly transmissible or deadly forms. We're going to be deep into 2022 before we have this pandemic under control because that's how long it's going to take to get vaccines rolled out equitably around the world."
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