Slamming Brakes On AstraZeneca's Vaccine Could Backfire
A “better safe than sorry” approach to Covid-19 vaccines can bring systemic costs.
Speed is of the essence.
Photographer: Jens Schlueter/Getty Images
Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner in charge of fixing the bloc’s mass vaccination campaign, likes to start his day with a call to AstraZeneca Plc boss Pascal Soriot to keep tabs on the supply of Covid-19 vaccines critical to immunizing the bloc’s population and reopening its economy by the summer.
The conversation’s been tense for a while, but surely more so this week. Countries across Europe including France, Germany and Italy have suspended vaccination with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shot following reports of serious blood clotting. The European Medicines Agency still says the benefits of being vaccinated outweigh the risks. It’s looking into the reports. The nations hitting pause say they’re doing it for purely “precautionary” reasons — to be safe rather than sorry.