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Concerns Over Mideast Vaccine Hesitancy Increase After Europe Pauses Astrazeneca Shot

After a number of European countries halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus over blood clot concerns, many in the region are worried about getting vaccinated, which will only spur more vaccine hesitancy in the Middle East.

Omar, an Amman resident in his twenties, is one such example.

“I was worried about getting the vaccine before the AstraZeneca vaccines were [temporarily] stopped, but now I am definitely not going to get it anytime soon,” he told The Media Line. “It was approved so quickly. … Who knows if it is really safe?”

The European Medicines Agency, which is in charge of the approval process for the vaccine in the European Union, looked into the blood clot concerns after 13 member countries halted the use of the vaccine. It found that the vaccine is “not associated” with a higher risk of clots. AstraZeneca also stands by the safety of its vaccine.

As the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region tends to be more skeptical about vaccines, an increase in the number of people refusing the vaccine could delay a return to a new normal.

In a pre-print of a study released March 10 titled “A High Rate of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Arabs: Results of a Large-Scale Survey,” Eyad Qunaibi, Mohamed Helmy, Iman Basheti, and Iyad Sultan found that in an online survey in January of some 38,485 Arab participants in 23 Arab countries and 122 other nations, that there was “a significant rate of vaccine hesitancy among Arabs in and outside the Arab region (83% and 81%, respectively).”

The most common rationales for the tentativeness, according to the study, were: “concerns about side effects and distrust in health care policies, vaccine expedited production, published studies and vaccine producing companies.”

I would rather take this risk than take the risk of getting coronavirus

The consequences of unvaccinated people do not only affect the well-being of society.

“Given that the vaccine is being purchased from state expenditure, the high vaccine hesitancy could further compromise the economies of Arab countries in addition to the pandemic health hazard,” according to the study.

The survey found that those in North Africa, like in Tunisia and Morocco, were the most hesitant in the region, while those in the Gulf Cooperative Council countries were the least. Turkey was the most vaccine reluctant in the MENA region.

Concern over the impact of the AstraZeneca vaccine is less of a concern in Israel, which uses the Pfizer vaccine.

“It’s pretty clear that these are totally different vaccines and I don’t think it will have a major impact on vaccination in Israel but theoretically, yes, people may be affected by concerns about COVID-19 vaccine,” Hagai Levine, associate professor of epidemiology at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health in Jerusalem and chairman of the Israel Association of Public Health Physicians, told The Media Line.

Dan Peretz of Haifa, who is set to get his first dose next week, has not been deterred by the events in Europe.

“While I was initially concerned over how fast the vaccine was approved, I feel safe now,” he told The Media Line. “I would rather take this risk than take the risk of getting coronavirus.”

Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers for the Middle East and North Africa as of 2:45 pm Greenwich Mean Time (UTC±0) on Thursday.

Country Confirmed Cases Deaths Recovered Active Cases
Afghanistan 56,069 2,462 49,664 3,943
Algeria 115,688 3,048 80,219 32,421
Bahrain 133,137 489 126,080 6,568
Cyprus 40,726 241 2,057 38,428
Djibouti 6,385 63 6,007 315
Egypt 192,840 11,431 148,424 32,985
Iran 1,778,645 61,581 1,521,377 195,687
Iraq 779,458 13,896 702,667 62,895
Israel 824,926 6,062 794,861 24,003
Jordan 504,915 5,553 412,387 86,975
Kuwait 213,673 1,194 198,273 14,206
Lebanon 426,977 5,536 335,333 86,108
Libya 149,207 2,435 136,158 10,614
Mauritania 17,521 445 16,821 255
Morocco 490,088 8,745 477,305 4,038
Oman 149,135 1,620 137,871 9,644
Pakistan 615,810 13,717 577,501 24,592
Palestinian Territories 215,984 2,343 191,839 21,802
Qatar 172,200 270 159,472 12,458
Saudi Arabia 383,880 6,591 373,601 3,688
Somalia 9,600 392 4,329 4,879
Sudan 29,135 1,959 23,583 3,593
Syria 16,776 1,120 11,231 4,425
Tunisia 243,439 8,463 210,375 24,601
Turkey 2,930,554 29,696 2,752,023 148,835
United Arab Emirates 434,465 1,424 416,105 16,936
Yemen 3,037 713 1,508 816
Total 10,934,270 191,489 9,867,071 875,710

 

Steven Ganot contributed to this report.