So, is the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, or not?

First it was not safe for over 65s. Then it was. Then it gave people blood clots, and various severe anaphylactic reactions. And then maybe not. So, is the AstraZeneca vaccine safe or not? 

I sincerely hope so, because I and my wife received our first AstraZeneca dose yesterday, taking advantage of a small window of opportunity when Canada decided that it is not safe for over-65s, but perfectly OK for 60-64 year olds. Now, of course, - the next day! - it has been approved for over-65s, so God knows when we will get a second dose)

I've lost track of how many countries have put their AstraZeneca vaccination program on hold right now, but it probably includes Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, DRC, and Indonesia. Many other countries say they are quite happy to continue with it. Canada says our AstraZeneca vaccines are not coming from the same batches as the ones much of Europe is complaining about anyway, and that is probably true because we are getting ours from the Serum Institute of India.

AstraZeneca, perhaps not surprisingly, insists that it is perfectly safe. The European Medicines Agency is inclined to agree. The WHO, for its part, is at pains to point out that "adverse events following immunization [do] not necessarily mean that the events are linked to vaccination itself"  So, why are all these individual countries putting AstraZeneca on hold? It does seem like they are taking "an abundance of caution" a bit far.

Certainly, there does not appear to be any causal relationship between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots. Out of the 17 million doses administered around the world, 37 cases of blood clots have been identified, (of which "at least two have died"), actually a lower rate than that found among the general population. A spokesman for Italy's medicines regulator has even suggested that the decision by various European countries (including Italy) may be a "political one".

Any spoke in the wheel of an expedited vaccination program is to be lamented. This is just one more road-block we do not need, one more ill-advised excuse for vaccine hesitancy.