UK regulator reaffirms AstraZeneca vaccine’s safety — but 13 countries suspend rollout

The UK medicines regulator has reaffirmed the safety of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, saying available evidence does not suggest it causes blood clots.

According to the BBC, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said nothing links the vaccine to blood clots in those who have received it.

Phil Bryan, vaccines safety lead at MHRA, was quoted as saying “given the large number of doses administered, and the frequency at which blood clots can occur naturally, the evidence available does not suggest the vaccine is the cause”.

There have been concerns over the administration of the vaccine in Nigeria after some recipients reportedly developed blood clots in other countries.

Several countries have suspended the rollout of the vaccine to investigate any possible link to the blood clots.

On Sunday, the list of countries suspending rollout grew to 13 after Netherlands and Ireland took the measure as a “precaution”.

According to The Independent, other countries that have paused rollout include Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Thailand, Congo, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania and Latvia.

According to AstraZeneca, there have been 15 instances of deep vein thrombosis — the resultant condition when blood clots develop in a blood vessel — among close to 20 million people vaccinated in the European Union and UK.

AstraZeneca said on Sunday that a review of 17 million recipients of the vaccine shows no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

“A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country,” the company said.