European Commissioner for Health and Food Stella Kyriakides said on Tuesday that all countries who paused the AstraZeneca vaccination campaign over fears of blood clotting had a right to do so, as people's safety is "non-negotiable."
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2021) European Commissioner for Health and food Stella Kyriakides said on Tuesday that all countries who paused the AstraZeneca vaccination campaign over fears of blood clotting had a right to do so, as people's safety is "non-negotiable."
Over a dozen countries worldwide stopped using the UK-Swedish vaccine following several cases of post-inoculation side effects such as thrombosis. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is currently probing the possible link between the AstraZeneca shots and the increased occurrence of blood clots, a matter that prompted such European states as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Norway to temporarily pause the use of the vaccine.
"A number of member states have, as a precautionary measure ... decided to suspend vaccinations, which is fully in their right to do so as vaccinations are a member state competence," Kyriakides told reporters.
The official went on to stress that the number of cases with post-vaccination adverse reactions was not higher than in the general population.
"But as always, we will rely fully on EMA's scientific review and recommendations, which we will be received on Thursday. Safety for us is non-negotiable," Kyriakides added.
AstraZeneca said on Sunday that it had found no evidence of increased risk of blood clots from its COVID-19 vaccine after conducting a review of safety data of over 17 million inoculated people across the European Union and the United Kingdom. Many countries continue using the vaccine despite the reports.
