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‘Slow’ UK response to AstraZeneca side-effects alarms experts

Regulator’s reaction questioned after emergence of blood clots linked to vaccine

But several scientists have told the FT that the regulator was too slow both to pick up on the reports of the adverse reaction and communicate its findings to the medical profession, the public and the media.

Prof Stephan Lewandowsky, a psychologist at the University of Bristol studying the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, said other European countries had taken a far more cautious attitude to immunisation than the UK throughout the pandemic. This had led to greater vigilance in the search for side-effects and faster communication of risks to the public.

“The MHRA was slow in responding to the emergence of a specific constellation of symptoms associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine and slow to communicate what they were finding — and I am not the only one who thinks so,” he said.

Gillies O’Bryan-Tear of the UK Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine agreed the regulator might have acted a bit sooner. “I am a great fan of the MHRA. Their response [to vaccine side-effects] has been measured but, yes, a bit late. Deciding how and when to communicate this sort of information is very tricky indeed.”

https://www.ft.com/content/5251e1b9-...a-29dc34d37652 or Google the headline.