EU backs AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as blood clot reviews continue

Europe’s drug regulator reiterated on Friday the benefits of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any risks, delivering an assessment based on continuing reviews into rare blood clots to help countries determine the shot’s use.

The renewed backing comes after several countries in the European Union and worldwide have limited the use of the vaccine, known as Vaxzevria. Denmark has stopped its use altogether, after possible links to clotting issues in combination with low platelet levels were confirmed.

The interim analysis by a committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) determined that serious side effects of rare blood clots are likely to occur in 1 out of 100,000 vaccinated people, the regulator said in a statement.

EMA officials said in a briefing the update on Friday was aimed at putting into context the data it has collected and analysed to help 27 EU member states work out how to use the shot based on their local situations.

The advantages of getting the vaccine increase with age and with any rise in infections rates, but the benefits were for now evident across all scenarios and ages, the officials said.

They said the recommendation may be subject to change because more data is being collected, and for instance not all EU member states had included the sex of the vaccine recipients in their data.