second take
GLOBE & MAIL: AstraZeneca’s misleading data undermines trust
If you asked Canadians if they wanted the AstraZeneca vaccine, a lot would say no. And it wouldn’t be because they were vaccine hesitant. It would be because AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company producing the low-cost vaccine developed by Oxford University, has repeatedly mishandled the delicate process of proving the safety and efficacy of shots destined to be put into a billion arms.
The latest setback came last week when Canada’s national advisory committee on immunisation unexpectedly recommended that AstraZeneca not be given to people under 55 until there is more information about its possible link to a tiny handful of potentially fatal blood clot cases in Europe that seem to strike younger people. Barely 10 days earlier Health Canada had said it was aware of the blood clot issue, but that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweighed any risks and that it should be given to people 18 and up...
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