The vaccines produced by Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca to protect against COVID-19 are safe and there is no evidence to suggest that the jabs are the cause behind blood clots as reported in some European countries, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical major and the UK’s medicines regulator have said.
“Around 17 million people in the EU and UK have now received our vaccine, and the number of cases of blood clots reported in this group is lower than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population,” said Ann Taylor, Chief Medical Officer at AstraZeneca.
“The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond the standard practices for safety monitoring of licensed medicines in reporting vaccine events, to ensure public safety,” she said.
The company said that safety is of “paramount importance” and the company is continually monitoring the safety of its vaccine.
“A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union (EU) and the UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country,” it said.
“We are closely reviewing reports but 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,” said Dr Phil Bryan, MHRA Vaccines Safety Lead. “People should still go and get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so,” he said.