Germany is among a number of European countries that have suspended its use and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was hopeful it could be used again.
The EU regulator has again insisted the drug's benefits outweighs any risks.
The German decision has been criticised by some politicians and doctors.
Emer Cooke, who is executive director of the European Medicines Agency said the EMA was still "firmly convinced" of the benefits of the AstraZeneca drug, and she pointed out that blood clots highlighted by some countries were relatively common in the general population. The main question was whether it was a real side-effect of the vaccine or a coincidence, she said.
The agency's safety committee will further review latest evidence and report back on Thursday. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) were also meeting on Tuesday but spokesman Christian Lindmeier stressed there was "no evidence" that the incidents were linked to the vaccine.
The WHO has urged countries not to pause their vaccinations.
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Sweden has become the latest country to halt the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus following suspected adversary effects in vaccinated people.
ReplyDelete"This decision is a precautionary measure," Anders Tegnell, the chief epidemiologist, was quoted as saying by Sweden's Public Health Agency on Tuesday.
The European Medicines Agency is looking into reports of recipients developing rare symptoms post-shot, including dangerous blood clots in vessels.
It will unveil findings on Thursday.
"[It is] important that we pause the vaccination until the EMA finds whether these events may be related to vaccination," Tegnell said.
Austria was the first to suspend the use of the vaccine from a batch of 1 million doses, prompting several other EU countries that received those doses to pause the rollout last week. Germany, France, Italy and Spain followed suit on Monday after initially rejecting concerns as unfounded.
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Greece's national vaccination committee on Tuesday decided unanimously to continue using the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in its vaccination campaign.
ReplyDelete"During today's meeting (16.03.2021), the National Vaccination Committee once again looked into the matter of reports about individual cases of thromboembolic events among people who were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, in the wake of the temporary preventive suspension of vaccination in several countries. The committee examined the data and unanimously holds that there are no grounds for amending its recommendation of 1103.2021," the committee said in a statement, quoted by the AMHA news agency.
The health authority added that both the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency recommended carrying on with AstraZeneca vaccinations.
"In conclusion, considering all data, the National Vaccination Committee recommends to continue vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine in our country per the outlined plan," the statement reads.
A number of European countries have temporarily halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports about several cases of post-inoculation thrombosis.