The European Medicines Agency said on Thursday that it had not found a connection between the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and blood clots developing in people who have received the inoculation. At the same time, the agency added it would continue to study possible links between the vaccine and venous thromboembolism.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced earlier that after a rigorous scientific review of all the available data the evidence does not suggest that blood clots in veins (venous thromboembolism) are caused by the COVID-19 Vaccine from AstraZeneca.
"The MHRA's advice remains that the benefits of the vaccines against COVID-19 continue to outweigh any risks and that the public should continue to get their vaccine when invited to do so,'' the agency said.
The agency will continue to assess the safety of vaccines used in the UK’s immunisation programme, the MHRA's chief executive, June Raine, said.
Since last week the European Medicines Agency has been investigating reports of blood clotting in those who have had the AstraZeneca vaccine. Despite a number of EU countries halting use of the vaccine, the WHO reiterated on Wednesday that it still recommends AstraZeneca for inoculations, believing that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks.
The UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the UK is going to tighten the supply of coronavirus vaccines in April, as the country decided to delay a batch of 1.7 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine because of the need to retest its stability.