ASTRAZENECA VACCINE NOT BEHIND BLOOD CLOTS: BRITISH REGULATOR

Tue 16 March 2021:

The AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine is not responsible for blood clotting, Britain’s vaccine regulator said Monday.

Phil Bryan, head of vaccine safety at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said the organization was “closely reviewing” the blood clot reports in some European nations.

But he added the evidence available “does not suggest the vaccine is the cause.”

“Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon,” he said in a statement.

“More than 11 million doses of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca have now been administered across the U.K., and the number of blood clots reported after having the vaccine is not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population.

“People should still go and get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so.”

His response comes after Germany, Italy and France became the latest countries to temporarily suspend the use of the vaccine.