Many countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland and Norway have temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after citizens reported side-effects, particularly blood clots, from getting the shots.
Anschober said on Puls 24 TV on Monday that "the good news" is that the AstraZeneca vaccine works, but all concerns regarding the possible side effects should be investigated on the EU level. The health minister said the EMA gets all the data on vaccine side effects from all over Europe and should thus make a relevant decision regarding the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the entire Europe.
The UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Sunday that it had found no evidence of increased risk of blood clots from its COVID-19 vaccine after conducting a review of safety data of over 17 million inoculated people across the European Union and the United Kingdom.
The EMA insists that immunization with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine must continue, head of the agency's health threats and vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, said on Monday.
The EMA also said in a separate statement on Monday that it was still investigating the possible link between the AstraZeneca shots and the increased occurrence of blood clots.