The AstraZeneca vaccine, with new questions …

The British Medicines Agency said it had identified 30 cases of blood clots so far after receiving the AstraZeneca anticovid vaccine, but said the risk was “very low” after administering 18.1 million. doses of the drug.

As of March 24, 22 cases of brain thrombi and eight other types associated with blood platelet deficiency have been reported, the regulatory agency (MHRA) reported. The agency said it had not received any similar report on the vaccine developed by Pfizer / BioNTech.

“The risk of suffering from this type of blood clot is very low,” he said. “The benefits of covid-19 vaccines continue to outweigh the risks,” he added. Vaccination is “the only effective way to reduce death and severe forms of the disease,” the MHRA added.

In general terms, “the amount and nature of the side effects mentioned so far are not unusual compared to other types of commonly used vaccines,” he explained.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, is under surveillance in several countries after severe cases of thrombosis.

The Netherlands announced on Friday that it was suspending injections of the vaccine for people under the age of 60 after new cases of clots. However, the EMA said last week that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective”.

The family of a 38-year-old woman, who died of thrombosis and who had received the first dose of the AstraZeneca anticovid vaccine, filed a complaint for manslaughter in Toulouse (southwest of France) on Friday.

The complaint was filed “against X” – which does not identify an alleged culprit, neither individual nor company – a procedure authorized in France when the circumstances of the case are not yet clear. “This is a complaint against X for manslaughter,” explained lawyer Étienne Boittin. A qualification that can “evolve depending on the elements of the case,” he said.

The family of the deceased, who was a social worker, “is not involved in a process of claiming or seeking responsibility, they simply want explanations, clarifications on what happened,” he added. .

The woman had been vaccinated in mid-March and did not suffer from any particular health problem, according to Boittin. Her health deteriorated shortly after being vaccinated and she had to be hospitalized in Toulouse. He died on March 29 of cerebral thrombosis.

“The objective of this complaint is to obtain additional investigations, in particular an autopsy in a medico-legal framework, with elements which make it possible to know if the vaccine could have a causal role in the death”, specified the lawyer .

The lawyer also defends the family of a medical student from Nantes (western France), who died suddenly at home on March 18, a few days after being vaccinated with the first dose of the AstraZeneca immunizer. In his case, the Nantes prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation.

The French Medicines Agency confirmed on March 26 that there is a “low” risk of atypical thrombosis associated with the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine, after the detection of new cases in France, while stressing that the balance between risks and benefits remained leaning in favor of the use of the immunizer.

The use of this vaccine was suspended on March 15 by several European countries, after the detection of cases of blood clots, fatal in some cases.

France lifted this suspension on March 19, following recommendations from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which deemed the injection “safe and effective”.