The benefits of getting vaccinated with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine outweigh possible risks, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) executive director, Emer Cooke, said on Tuesday.

“We are still sure that the benefits outweigh the risks. Currently, there are no indications hinting at those problems (a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the risk of blood clotting). Those problems did not occur during clinical trials and they cannot be expected as side effects after this vaccine,” Cooke told a news conference today.

The statement ensued after seven EU member states on Monday joined other countries that have suspended inoculation with this vaccine as a precautionary measure.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal and Latvia temporarily halted inoculations with the vaccine on Monday after reported incidents of bleeding, blood clots and a low count of blood platelets in some people who had received the AstraZeneca shot, foreign media outlets reported.

The EMA said in a statement that “many thousands of people develop blood clots annually in the EU for different reasons” and that the number of incidents in vaccinated people “seems not to be higher than that seen in the general population”.

EMA is working closely with the producer of the said vaccine, with experts in blood disorders, and with other health authorities, including the UK’s MHRA based on its experience with around 11 million administered doses of the vaccine, the regulator said on its website on Monday.

EMA’s safety committee (PRAC) is supposed to review the information on Tuesday and has called an extraordinary meeting for Thursday, 18 March to conclude on the information gathered and any further actions that may need to be taken.