The World Health Organization (WHO) safety experts, AstraZeneca, and the European Medicines Agency plan to discuss the issue of vaccine, which reportedly causes blood clots.
The WHO experts scheduled to meet Tuesday over the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine whose rollout has been stopped in several EU countries over blood clot fears.
“We do not want people to panic and we would, for the time being, recommend that countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief expert Soumya Swaminathan said Monday.
While Germany, Italy and France have suspended the AstraZeneca jab Monday, the global immunisation campaign against the COVID-19 slows significantly. “So far, we do not find an association between these events and the vaccine,” WHO said.
WHO, EMA experts to start a discussion on Tuesday
WHO and EMA experts on Tuesday will separately discuss data from AstraZeneca inoculations, while the European regulator will hold an extraordinary meeting two days later to decide on any further action.
The cheapest AstraZeneca’s vaccine was billed as the drug of choice for poorer nations and the clot reports have had an impact beyond the EU. The anti-COVID drug was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in the UK, where more than 11 million doses have been administered apparently without any major problems.
