EU drug regulator says it hasn't found causal link between AstraZeneca and blood clots
Follow UsStory highlights
Experts have asked people to continue taking the vaccine till the investigation is completed as the benefits have outweighed the possibility of danger
Europe’s drug regulator has denied establishing a causal connection between the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and the formation of blood clots.
A little after a senior official claimed that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had already established a link between the AstraZeneca-Oxford jab and a rare blood clotting syndrome, the regulator has backtracked on the official’s statement and has said that it has “not yet reached a conclusion and the review is currently ongoing”.
EMA’s head of vaccines, Marco Cavaleri, had earlier told a local Italian newspaper that “it is clear there is a link with the vaccine … But we still do not know what causes this reaction”.
The clash of statements has come after a few European countries temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as many suspected the formation of blood clots in the people who got the jab.
However, the EMA had denied these reports and reiterated that the vaccine is safe and effective. It also added that it could, however, not completely rule out the possibility and thus would continue to investigate.
The regulator and other experts have asked people to continue taking the vaccine till the investigation is completed as the benefits have outweighed the possibility of danger, till now.
For now, the EMA is investigating the death of 14 people who developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) after getting a shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine around March 22 and lost their lives to it.
“We are trying to get a precise picture of what is happening, to define in detail this syndrome due to the vaccine,” Cavaleri told the Italian newspaper. “Among the vaccinated, there are more cases of cerebral thrombosis … among young people than we would expect.”