The European Medicines Agency described the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the emerging corona virus as safe and effective, despite reports of causing blood clots.

And blood clots were reported in many countries, which prompted a number of governments around the world to suspend vaccination campaigns with the vaccine, and this slowed down vaccination efforts in the European Union, which were already slowing.

The European Medicines Agency, which approved the vaccine in January, has launched a review of AstraZeneca risks.

"The committee has come to a clear scientific conclusion," said agency president Emer Kuki, upon presenting the results of the review.

Cookie stressed that "this vaccine is safe and effective, and its benefits in protecting people from Covid-19 disease, and the associated risks of death or hospitalization, outweigh its potential risks."

However, the agency did not conclusively rule out a link between the occurrence of blood clots and the use of the vaccine, and says that it has opened additional investigations to seek to understand the matter.

Britain

For its part, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in Britain said that the evidence does not indicate that the AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots.

But she added that an investigation is underway into a very rare and special type of blood clot in the veins of the brain.

"The evidence that we have does not indicate that the occurrence of blood clots in the veins is due to the AstraZeneca vaccine to prevent Covid-19," the agency stated.

She added, "An additional detailed review is being conducted in what we have reported about 5 cases in Britain, which had a very rare and specific type of blood clots in the veins of the brain, accompanied by a decrease in the number of platelets."

 WHO official urges continued use of AstraZeneca vaccine

The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks, said Hans Kluge, Director of the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe, Thursday, adding that European countries should continue to use it to save lives during the pandemic.

At the same time, a WHO spokesperson said that the WHO vaccine safety committee will release its findings on the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday.

The organization stated that the committee reviewed the data on Tuesday, and reviewed reports indicating rare disorders related to blood clotting in individuals who received the vaccine.

Klug said that European drug regulators are investigating a small number of blood clots in the region that are the reason more than 10 European Union governments have stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"At the present time, we do not know if some or all of the cases are due to the vaccine or other concurrent factors, but the benefits of the vaccine currently outweigh the risks, and it must continue to be used to save lives," he added.