AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
Source: Juan Roballo, Shutterstock
Summary
- EU drug regulator EMA has ruled the AstraZeneca vaccine safe for use.
- Several countries, including Germany and France, stopped Astra shots after blood clot fears.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has found the drug to be 63 percent effective.
The European Union drug regulator on Thursday ruled that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe to use, days after several countries in Europe suspended the shots over blood clot fears.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said the vaccines were safe and effective but further investigation may be required into reports of blood clogging to rule out a possibility.
The latest assessment will allow the bloc to continue with Astra shots amid growing concerns of vaccine delays, which has threatened to deepen the health crisis in Europe. Ruling out any major threat from the drug, the EMA, however, noted that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Nearly a dozen countries, including Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, and Italy had suspended the Astra shots last week, going against the advice of EMA and the World Health Organization (WHO) after reports of blood clogging in patients administered with the drug, surfaced.
The UK drug authority has also issued similar guidelines after reviewing the European cases, in which it had found some individuals of various age groups had developed sinus vein thrombosis and low platelets. The WHO has found the drug to be 63 percent effective in covid patients.
Pic Credit: Pixabay.
Drug Delays Hamper Vaccination
The covid drug is jointly developed by Cambridge-based AstraZeneca Plc, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company, and the Oxford University.
Europe has approved four coronavirus drugs so far. However, the repeated delays in vaccine deliveries have hampered the governments’ efforts to speed up vaccinations. The urgency was further accelerated by the emergence of a new variant of the virus in some countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America in January.
The 27-member bloc has ordered 360 million doses, whose deliveries are expected to be completed in batches by the second quarter. The EU plans to inoculate 70 percent of adults in the next six months.
So far, the virus has infected around 121 million people around the globe, with 2.68 million deaths. The elderly were the worst sufferers.
