Routine or crisis communication?
According to the European Medicines Agency, the name of AstraZeneca’s new crown vaccine has been changed to Vaxzevria since March 25, and the vaccine named “AstraZeneca” no longer exists on the agency’s official website.
Many speculate that the name change may be an attempt to reverse the negative public Perception of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to its side effects. But Karl Lauterbach, a health policy expert for the German Social Democrats, is not convinced. In an interview with German TV2, he said that the name change was not to confuse people, but because “AstraZeneca” is not the name of the vaccine itself, but “the name of the company that produces it. The official name of the vaccine used to be “ChAdOx1”. However, he also confirmed that Vaxzevria, as it currently appears on the European Medicines Agency website, is the vaccine known as AstraZeneca.
AstraZeneca has also come forward to clarify that the name change has been in the works for months and was not an ad hoc move. In past press releases, the company used the name AZD1222 for the vaccine, while the European Medicines Agency previously used the registration name “AstraZeneca New Crown Vaccine” (COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca).
In response to a query from Agence France-Presse, AstraZeneca said that the full renaming of the vaccine is expected to be completed in six months, as evaluations in other markets are still underway.
Germany: Vaccination recommendations have been revised several times
Several governments, including Germany’s, have also wavered several times regarding the vaccination policy for this vaccine. At the end of January, the German Vaccine Commission said it only recommended vaccination for people between the ages of 18 and 64 because insufficient data had been collected on trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65. In mid-March, Germany suspended the use of the vaccine after an increase in the number of cases of blood clots and even deaths in people with severe symptoms due to the vaccine.
Only a few days after the suspension, Germany resumed vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The reason was that the Epidemic situation in Germany was so severe that tens of thousands of people were missing out on vaccinations every day during the suspension period, and the cost of serious illnesses and deaths due to the continued spread of the new coronavirus was greater than the possible side effects of the vaccine. However, on Tuesday, the German Vaccine Commission again revised its recommendation that the AstraZeneca vaccine be given only to people over 60 years of age.
The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, which is in charge of the vaccine, has now counted 31 cases of cerebral thrombosis following AstraZeneca vaccination, including 19 cases with thrombocytopenia, according to the German daily “tagesschau.de.” Of these 31 cases, all but two of the men (36 and 57 years old, respectively) were women, aged between 20 and 63 years.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said after the cases of side effects came to light that the new crown vaccine, manufactured by AstraZeneca, was still safe and effective. Whether there is a direct link between serious side effects, including cerebral thrombosis, and the vaccine can neither be confirmed nor ruled out at this Time. Experts say further research is needed.
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