Europe’s medicines regulator has announced a possible link between the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and rare blood clotting issues in adults who have received the jab.
This development comes after a review of all currently available evidence into extremely rare cases of unusual blood clots in some vaccinated people.
According to the executive director of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19 overall outweigh the risks of side effects.”
She says after a very in-depth analysis he EMA’s safety committee, the committee concluded that the reported cases of unusual blood clotting following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine should be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine.
She explained that the plausible explanation for the rare side events is an immune response to the vaccine similar to one seen in patients treated with heparin adding that the situation is referred to as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca shot has been dogged by safety concerns in recent weeks, with several European countries briefly suspending their use of the vaccine last month.
However, the World Health Organization, the U.K.’s medicines regulator and the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis have all said that the benefits of administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot far outweigh the risks.
