After a top official from the agency said there was a correlation between the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and a rare blood clotting syndrome, Europe’s drug regulator denied that it had already found a causal link.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday in a statement it had “not yet reached a conclusion and the review is currently ongoing”. The agency is expected to announce its findings of investigation on Wednesday or Thursday.
A group of German scientists has already pointed out that the blood clotting events reported after the AstraZeneca jab look very similar to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia- HIT. But, the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to Prof Saad Shakir, the director of the drug safety research unit (DSRU) at Southampton University, is both safe and effective. “It has saved millions of people from Covid-19 around the world and will continue to do so,” he said.
Meanwhile, Oxford University paused the trial on more than 200 children and young people on Tuesday as a precautionary measure in response to investigations by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) in the UK and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
However, the World Health Organization, EMA and Medicines and MHRA have urged people to continue taking the vaccine because the benefit of it still outweighs any risks. Most countries have since resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine. Although some countries like France, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Canada, have discontinued it in people under the age of 55, 60, or 65.
The EMA is investigating 14 deaths among vaccine recipients that are connected to rare blood clots and a low platelet count. Young and middle-aged women made up a substantial majority of the recorded incidents.
In the UK, as of 24 March, 30 events of blood clotting had occurred resulting in seven deaths from 18.1m doses of vaccine. The risk of death from Covid is higher even in younger people.
According to the scientists, 47,000 vaccines in the UK prevent one death from Covid for all citizens under the age of 50.
