The European Medicines Agency said it remained “firmly convinced” of the benefits of the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccines.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday that remained “firmly convinced” of the benefits of the AstraZeneca and Oxford coronavirus vaccine although several countries have suspended its use for fear of blood clots.

“We are always firmly convinced that the advantages of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the prevention of Covid-19 with its associated risk of hospitalization and death outweigh the risk of these side effects ”, said the director of the European Medicines Agency, Emer cooke, at an online press conference.

The official noted that thousands of people across the EU develop thrombosis every year for various reasons and recalled that there were no reports of increased blood clots in clinical studies of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“At this time, there is no evidence that the vaccination caused these conditions. They did not appear in clinical trials and are not listed as known or expected side effects “Cooke added.

The Amsterdam-based EMA security committee met on Tuesday to assess new information and would reach a conclusion at a special meeting on Thursday, Cooke said.

The official assured that European scientists take vaccine safety “very seriously”.

So “They would let us know if there are other measures to take”, he said, without specifying what the measures might be.

Various European countries including France, Germany, Italy and Spain have suspended use of the vaccine following reports of blood clots.

The experts of the The World Health Organization will also meet on Tuesday to discuss the vaccine.

The EMA approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for people of all ages on January 29.

But its implementation was problematic from the start, with several countries initially stating that it should not be used in the elderly.

For its part, AstraZeneca said the safety data of more than 17 million people who have received their vaccine in the European Union and the United Kingdom have been reviewed and that this information “offers no evidence of an increased risk.” thromboembolic events.

There have been 37 reports of blood clots among more than 17 million people who have received the vaccine in the EU and Britain, the company said.

“This is much lower than one would naturally expect in a general population of this size and is similar in other licensed COVID-19 vaccines,” said the Anglo-Swedish pharmacist.

An opinion also supported by the WHO, which this week asked not to panic and again recommended countries continue to use it. “Of course we have to keep track of everything that is going on, but there is no reason to panic” WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said.

Europe has the luxury of being able to choose between several candidate vaccines, but The decision is not yet easy on the continent, where the virus is on the rise again and the vaccination campaign has stumbled several times.

The choice may be even more difficult elsewhere as many countries rely heavily on AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to handle than some other clichés. So far, the vaccine has played a very important role in the global initiative to ensure that antidotes reach the poorest countries known as COVAX.

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