The European Union Agency for the Control of Drugs declares that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday announced its findings from a review of medical records of millions of people receiving the drug. The examination began following reports that a small number of people suffered blood clots or clots after receiving the vaccine. Last week, several European countries suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a result.
The EMA spoke after an extraordinary meeting to discuss concerns between its member countries and other countries.
Emer Cooke leads EMA. She told reporters on Thursday: “Our scientific position is that this vaccine is safe and effective. option to protect citizens against COVID-19. ”
Cooke added: “If it were me, I would have been vaccinated tomorrow.”
However, she said the agency “cannot definitively rule out a link” between blood clots and the vaccine.
The EMA said it had looked at about 25 cases of rare blood clots in 20 million people who received the vaccine by March 16. The agency said “there is no causal link to the vaccine, but it is possible”, adding that the issue should be further studied.
The agency said the number of blood clots reported was lower than expected in the general population. This led to the conclusion, EMA reported, that “there is no increase in the overall risk of blood clots”.
Resumption of vaccination programs
About 13 European nations have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of possible blood clots related to the shootings.
On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi welcomed the EMA decision. He said Italy would resume vaccinations against AstraZeneca as early as Friday.
When the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for emergency use in the UK in December last year, the shot was described as the “vaccine for the world”. It costs much less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. It also requires no extreme cold storage, making it easier to use in resource-limited countries.
COVAX is an international program to implement coronavirus vaccines in people around the world. It hopes to provide at least 2 billion photos, mostly from AstraZeneca, to poor countries around the world.
Two other vaccines are approved for emergency use in Europe. One is from Pfizer-BioNTech, and the other is a Moderna product. In the United States, health officials have approved vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for emergency use.
AstraZeneca intends to seek US government approval in the coming months.
Michael Head is a top researcher at the University of Southampton in the UK. He worries that people may be less willing to be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine when the suspensions end. “It simply came to our notice then circulating“, he said,” to reduce the chances of continuing variants Developing.”
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the director of the World Health Organization for Europe, Hans Kluge, said countries should continue to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He added: “We need to renew ourselves trust, if lost, restore it – especially for AstraZeneca. ”
I’m Caty Weaver.
Hai Do wrote this story for learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in this story
option – n. a choice or a possibility
flow – v. to move from group to group
alternative – n. a different virus in one than in the other
emerge – v. to become known
trust – n. the feeling or belief that something is good