AstraZeneca Vaccine: benefit vs harm

EMA’s human medicines committee analyzed the vaccine’s benefits and the risk of unusual blood clots with low platelets in different age groups in the context of the monthly infection rates: low (55 per 100,000 people), medium (401 per 100,000 people) and high (886 per 100,000 people) (EMA 20210423). The graphs show how the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks more clearly 1) the higher the infection rates and 2) the older the recipients. In other words: for young people in countries with low infection rates or with other vaccines available, the risk-benefit balance is worse than for older people or younger people in countries with high-infections rates. As immunization campaigns include more and more young people to be vaccinated, alternative vaccines (BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna) will become more attractive.


Low infection rate

Deaths prevented

 

ICU admission prevented

 

Hospitalizations prevented


Medium infection rate

Deaths prevented

 

 

ICU admission prevented

 

Hospitalizations prevented


High infection rate

Deaths prevented

 

 

ICU admission prevented

 

Hospitalizations prevented