Rich nations had vaccine options after AstraZeneca and J&J faced clot reports. Others may not have that luxury

Potential issues with the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots have dented the global vaccination drive. But they are a bigger blow for developing countries who have less alternatives to turn to.

This isn't only because developed countries, like those in Western Europe, had purchased a large number of AstraZeneca doses to dig their way out of the pandemic but, more consequentially, because so much of the developing world was relying on this one vaccine to do the same. The double blow is that a picture is emerging that the AstraZeneca vaccine -- which appears to have caused a very rare, sometimes fatal, condition of severe clotting with low blood platelet counts -- may be affecting younger adults more than the elderly. Developing countries, in general, have significantly younger populations than their wealthier counterparts.