UK regulator has found a total of 30 cases of blood clot events after using the AstraZeneca vaccine

(Reuters) – British regulators said on Thursday they had identified 30 cases of rare blood clots after using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, 25 more than the agency had previously reported.

The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency said it has not received any reports of such clotting events following use of the vaccine manufactured by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc.

Health officials said they still believe the vaccine’s benefits in preventing COVID-19 far outweigh any possible risk of blood clots.

Some countries are limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine while others have resumed inoculations, as reports of rare and sometimes serious blood clots continue to be investigated.

On March 18, the UK medicines regulator said there had been five cases of rare cerebral blood clots among 11 million vaccines given.

On Thursday, he put the tally at 22 reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, an extremely rare brain coagulation disease, and 8 reports of other clotting events associated with low blood platelets out of a total of 18.1 millions of doses administered.