Nadine Roger, a 60-year-old woman who is recovering from breast cancer, is at risk for COVID-19 and wants to be vaccinated immediately. However, when she was offered a vaccine made by AstraZeneca, she refused. She said, “The AstraZeneca (dose) frightens me”. I don’t trust on AstraZeneca vaccine.
Roger, a medical technician, said she would instead wait for the dose of US firm Johnson & Johnson, which European regulators have yet to approve.
According to the latest data from the French Ministry of Health, France used 24% of the AstraZeneca dose at the end of February, compared to 82% for the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech and 37% for Moderna.
This is partly due to logistical difficulties, but also because some French people don’t trust on AstraZeneca vaccine – despite numerous scientific studies suggest they are safe and effective.
They say some of the vaccines on offer are concerned about side effects, are skeptical that they will be effective against the new variant COVID-19, and are confused by delaying evidence of how well they work in older people.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has an uneven origin.
European regulators recommend against using it on anyone over the age of 65 due to lack of data. French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted as saying the shots were “barely effective”. And French regulators urged hospitals to delay vaccinations for their staff after side effects caused front-line staff to see patients.
Read more: France and Italy avoid the AstraZeneca vaccine as the UK program evolutions
People don’t trust on AstraZeneca vaccine because, “All that sent out the wrong signal to health workers, but also the rest of the population,” said Jacques Battistoni, head of France’s largest general medical union.
Changing approach
Of course, France is one of the most skeptical countries in the world. Although research shows that the proportion of people wanting to vaccinate is increasing.
Like other wealthy nations, France has made AstraZeneca a pillar since releasing its vaccine. With all the major vaccine producers experiencing production problems, countries cannot afford to stop injections.
A health ministry official and two doctors involved in the distribution said absorption was accelerating as logistics improved and people got used to AstraZeneca injections.
The AstraZenaca dose should initially be given to hospitals and vaccination centers to vaccinate health professionals and general practitioners to vaccinate ages 50 to 64 years under pre-existing conditions.
In the first week after the launch of AstraZenaca, which coincided with the start of the school holidays, GPs ordered less than half the dose.
France’s AstraZeneca president Olivier Nataf told Journal du Dimanche this week that his company’s vaccine against severe COVID-19 infection. Fully effective and 80% effective against hospital admissions.
“Confusions and disappointments can arise. Many already resolved,” he told the newspaper. “There may be others. But the enemy remains the pandemic. Any controversy diminishes our ability to overcome it”.
European regulators have concluded that the side effects caused by the AstraZenaca vaccine are unquestionably safe. A Scottish study involving 5.4 million people showed this, and the Pfizer vaccine is very effective in preventing serious infections.
France, Germany and Italy have changed their ways and are now giving vaccines to people over the age of 65.
Macron said last month that the AstraZeneca dose was effective and would accept it if offered.
Second standard vaccine
However, some doubts are still remaining. Malika, 54, who works at a homeless clinic near Paris, said she refused the AstraZeneca vaccine when offered.
“I thought to myself: ‘I don’t really see the point of getting vaccinated with a second-rate vaccine” said Malika. Who did not wish to be named.
She said, her decision taken when a colleague opened fire and it had side effects. Malika said she wanted Pfizer’s stab, which has now held for more than 75 years.
Roger, a cancer survivor, said she lives alone so she worries about fever, a possible side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine. And doubts the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the new variant.
“But the big downside, she says, is that she will have to wait to get a second injection of AstraZeneca in May to feel fully protected, a problem that would not have happened with a single Johnson & Johnson vaccine”.
“She has to Yemen, Mali, and Madagascar, and the shelves of her house decorated with artifacts she brought home”. Ever since she diagnosed with cancer, she realized that. She needed to make the most of her time and get back on the right track.
“Right now, AstraZeneca doesn’t allow me to do that“.
