The World Health Organization announced Tuesday afternoon that the risk / benefit balance for the AstraZeneca vaccine "remains very largely positive" to date, despite a possible link between this vaccine and certain types of thrombosis.

The European Medicines Agency has its side The risk / benefit balance continues to weigh "largely" in favor of the use of AstraZeneca's anti-Covid vaccine, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday Explaining that experts were gathered this week to discuss a possible link between this vaccine and certain rare types of thrombosis, Rogerio Pinto de Sa Gaspar, WHO director in charge of regulation, insisted that in the current state of knowledge, the risk / benefit balance "remains very largely positive".

The risk / benefit balance continues to weigh "largely" in favor of the use of AstraZeneca's anti-Covid vaccine, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

Explaining that experts were gathered this week to discuss a possible link between this vaccine and certain rare types of thrombosis, Rogerio Pinto de Sa Gaspar, WHO director in charge of regulation, insisted on the fact that in l current state of knowledge, the risk / benefit balance "remains very largely positive".

Low ratio

For several weeks, suspicions have appeared on possible serious side effects, but rare, after the observation in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca of cases of atypical thrombosis.

Dozens of cases have already been identified, several of which have resulted in death.

In the UK, there have been 30 cases and seven deaths out of a total of 18.1 million doses administered as of March 24.

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On Tuesday, the safety committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it had not yet reached a conclusion on the link between the vaccine of the Swedish-British laboratory AstraZeneca and certain thromboses, contradicting the statements of one of the its managers a few hours earlier. 

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"No proven causal link"

"The review is currently underway," said the European regulator, specifying that an announcement is expected Wednesday or Thursday.

So far, the EMA maintains that "no causal link to the vaccine has been proven," although it is "possible," and that the benefits of vaccination against the coronavirus still outweigh the risks.

As a precaution, several countries have decided to no longer administer this vaccine below a certain age, such as France, Germany and Canada.

Norway and Denmark have suspended its use.

For its part, AstraZeneca had assured in March that there was "no evidence of aggravated risk".

This vaccine is one of four approved in the European Union, along with that of Moderna, Pfizer / BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson whose deliveries are expected on April 19.