- Seven people have died from blood clots after the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, British regulators said.
- A total of 30 blood clots possibly linked to the vaccine have been reported in the UK.
- The UK drug regulator maintains that the benefits of the shots outweigh the risks.
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Seven people have died from blood clots after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said on Saturday, according to several reports.
The agency on Thursday reported 25 new cases of rare blood clots possibly linked to the vaccine, bringing the total number of cases to 30, but did not indicate how many, if any, people died. MHRA has not received clotting reports following the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine, according to its Thursday report.
It is still unclear whether the AstraZeneca vaccine causes the blood clots, or that it is just accidental.
MHRA maintains that the shots are safe. Seven deaths from more than 18 million doses of AstraZeneca delivered on March 24 still mean the adverse outcome possibly associated with the shot is extremely rare.
“The benefits … of preventing Covid-19 infection and its complications still outweigh the risks and the public must continue to receive their vaccine when invited to do so,” said Dr. June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, told the BBC.
Many countries have resumed use of AstraZeneca vaccine
In March, more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, temporarily suspended the deployment of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to concerns about the possible link with the rare blood clots, Insider’s Barnaby Lane reported.
Many have resumed or partially resumed use after the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization stressed its safety.
“The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19, with the associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the European Medicines Agency said in a press release on March 31. , what the regulator has said over the weeks. before.
As previously reported by dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce of Insider, told the EMA that an expert panel, including hematologists, neurologists and epidemiologists, could not identify any specific risk factors, including age, gender or previous medical disorder that increase the risk of a very rare person. happenings. “
Although there are some theories as to why a vaccine can lead to blood clots, there is still no evidence in this case, EMA said.