EU countries to restart use of AstraZeneca vaccine

PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany, France, Italy and Spain said they would resume using the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after the EU drugs regulator said there was a “clear scientific conclusion” that the jab was “safe and effective”, Financial Times reports.

Emer Cooke, head of the European Medicines Agency, on Thursday, March 18 said its investigation had concluded that the AstraZeneca vaccine was “not associated” with a potential risk of blood clots noted recently by some scientists, adding that the benefits of the shot outweighed possible risks.

“If it were me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow,” said Cooke.

EMA officials said they could not “definitively” ruleout a link between the vaccine and a rarer, and more serious, type of blood clot associated with a low platelet count.“A causal link with the vaccine is not proven, but is possible and deserves further analysis,” the agency said. Cooke recommended an awareness campaign that aimed to “spot and mitigate any possible side effects” of the vaccine.

While countries including Austria had put their programs on hold, the wider suspension came after German researchers noted an apparent raised incidence of rare blood clots that led Berlin to halt the AstraZeneca element of its inoculation program.