Chancellor Kurz continues to stand by AstraZeneca

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Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) has backed the vaccination panel’s decision to continue using the controversial AstraZeneca vaccine. “We trust our experts here, who have made a clear decision to continue using all approved vaccines,” Kurz said at a press conference in Vienna on Tuesday. Similarly to Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) earlier, he urged a European solution.

“This is a patchwork within Europe, which is not ideal,” Kurz said. Therefore, he hopes “that there will be a clarification of this issue quickly,” the chancellor demanded a “clarification” regarding the vaccine from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

After several states in the EU and also outside had suspended the vaccination of the Corona vaccine of AstraZeneca, previously also Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) saw on Tuesday at a press conference the solution further on “pan-European level”. According to the recommendation of the Austrian vaccination panel, AstraZeneca will continue to vaccinate for the time being. The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) assessment on Thursday will be awaited before a possible halt.

Anschober did not see his role as that of a “vaccination scientist,” but rather as a politician who implements recommendations from the respective experts. In the case of AstraZeneca, he said, this was the Austrian vaccination panel, whose expertise he trusted “one hundred percent.” On Monday, the panel had provisionally come out in favor of further vaccination by AstraZeneca.

According to Anschober, the decisive factor is the assessment of AstraZeneca by the EMA. The EMA is responsible for reviewing the marketing authorization, and it is here that all information on side effects comes together. A total of 6.9 million people have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca throughout the EU, and 220,000 in Austria. According to the minister, these figures must be seen “in relation to the side effects.

About a year after the first Corona lockdown, Anschober saw society in Austria as “in part simply exhausted” There was, however, also a “very small minority” that was increasingly aggressive. This had led to him himself being placed under personal protection, Anschober said.