Eating Their Words?

The domino effect, seen when most European (and a few other) countries, 'paused' their roll-outs of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is supposedly going to be 'resolved' today (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/18/eu-medicines-regulator-to-report-on-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-safety). The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will release its evaluation of possible links between administration of the vaccine and 'side-effects'. The 'side effects' all relate to serious blood-clotting conditions. These have now been noted in a variety of countries and have proved fatal in a small number of cases. Some of the people involved were comparatively young. Spoiler alert! Even before that 'judgement', most expert bodies (including the EMA and WHO) agree the peril of being infected with Covid-19 massively outweighs any conceivable risk of receiving a vaccine. So, it will all be solved today and the EU vaccination programme, will resume 'full-steam ahead'? This actually appears very unlikely. Evidence suggests that public confidence in the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been greatly damaged, by both the unconfirmed reports of 'side-effects' and the 'pausings'. That public, are unlikely to be convinced by statements, that the pause was only a consequence of an 'abundance of caution'. Claims the intention was to bolster faith in the vaccine's safety, are also likely to ring hollow. Most people respond to largely subliminal messages. Why should they take any risk? They can either avoid all vaccines or wait for alternative versions to be made available. The mass vaccination programmes in many EU countries will probably continue to be moribund. And this is at a time, when third waves of the virus seem likely. Politics and public health make strange bed-fellows.