AMSTERDAM/LONDON (Reuters) - Europe pushed to get its COVID-19 vaccination drive back on track on Friday after EU and British regulators said the benefits of AstraZeneca’s shot outweighed any risks following reports of blood clots.
The end to the suspension of AstraZeneca shots by more than a dozen countries will now kick off a test of public confidence, both in the vaccine and regulators who are under unprecedented scrutiny as variants of the virus spread and the global death toll climbs beyond 2.8 million.
Safety concerns had led at least 13 European countries to stop administering the shot, slowing an already faltering inoculation campaign across the European Union, which is lagging Britain and the United States.
Europe’s leaders say they need to accelerate their vaccination drive, with deaths in the EU topping 550,000, less than a 10th of the bloc’s population inoculated and growing signs of an imminent third wave of infections.
Germany, Italy and others countries including Indonesia began on Friday to administer the shots they had suspended after reports of about 30 cases of rare brain blood clots sent scientists and governments scrambling to determine any link.
France’s health regulator, however, recommended only over 55s should get AstraZeneca shots due to concern those younger were more at risk of clots while Lithuania will let people chose their vaccine in a possible litmus test of sentiment.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) came to what it called a clear conclusion that the vaccine’s benefits in protecting people from coronavirus-related death or hospitalisation outweighed the possible risks.
Still, EMA said a link between rare events of blood clots in the brain and the shot could not be definitively ruled out and it would continue its scrutiny, as will the British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
“This is a safe and effective vaccine,” EMA Director Emer Cooke told a briefing on Thursday. “If it were me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow.” ...
