Blood clots should be listed as a "very rare" side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19, the EMA ruled on Wednesday, while estimating that the benefit / risk balance remains "positive".

In the field, doctors are doing their best to reassure reluctant patients.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Wednesday that blood clots should be listed as a "very rare" side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19.

However, she believes that the vaccine should continue to be used because the benefit / risk balance remains "positive".

Even if no specific risk factor, such as age, for example, has been identified, doses are, in France and in several other European countries, reserved for people over 55 years of age.

But these cases of thrombosis, although rare, are also of concern to eligible patients.

On the ground, the caregivers try to restore their confidence. 

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"We will do our work remotely"

"We are going to do our usual work. When we prescribe a new drug to patients, we explain to them the advantages and disadvantages of this drug. It's a discussion that we are very used to having", explains Dr. Jacques Battistoni, president of the MG France doctors' union, at the microphone of Europe 1. Since the brief suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, conversations of this type have multiplied.

"We repeat that the benefit is much greater than the risk," he says. 

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Before publishing its opinion on Wednesday, the EMA carried out a "thorough" examination of 86 reported cases, including 18 fatalities, out of around 25 million people who received the vaccine in the European Union and the United Kingdom.

"The safety committee has confirmed that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19 overall outweigh the risk of side effects," EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said in a statement. videoconferencing.

No specific risk factor identified

Although most cases of blood clots have been observed in women under the age of 60, leading some countries to advise against the use of the vaccine for young people, the European regulator has not been able to identify group at risk.

"Specific risk factors such as age, sex or medical history could not be confirmed," said Emer Cooke, stressing that the vaccine is "very effective" and "saves lives".