Many European countries will now resume the rollout of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has ruled it is “safe and effective.”
Germany said that they will resume inoculating people again from Friday Italy will also follow and France will also resume vaccinating people.
The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain will resume vaccinating people from next week, although Spain will exclude certain groups.
The EMA said they cannot “rule out definitively” the link between a “small number of cases of rare and unusual, but very serious blood clotting disorders,” and investigations are ongoing.
Emer Cooke, EMA executive director, said this was not unexpected, she added, that “when you vaccinate millions of people” such reports of rare events do happen.
The EMA concluded that there is no overall increase in the risk of blood clots through the AstraZeneca vaccine, and will overall reduce the risk of clots.
Cooke, who said she will personally take the vaccine, told a press briefing, “The committee has come to a clear scientific conclusion.
“This is a safe and effective vaccine. Its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19, with the associated risks of death and hospitalisation, outweigh the possible risks.
“The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events, or blood clots.”
Ann Taylor, AstraZeneca’s chief medical officer, said, “Vaccine safety is paramount and we welcome the regulators’ decisions which affirm the overwhelming benefit of our vaccine in stopping the pandemic.
“We trust that, after the regulators’ careful decisions, vaccinations can once again resume across Europe.”
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