EU Medicines Agency Says AstraZeneca Vaccine's Benefits Still Outweigh Risks, But Link to Blood-Clotting Disease Is Possible

   By Cecilia Butini 
 

The EU's medicines regulator reiterated its position Wednesday that the benefits of AstraZeneca PLC's Covid-19 vaccine outweigh its risks, after reports of a rare thrombosis disease prompted its safety committee to carry out a review of the jab while a number of EU countries temporarily suspended its use.

The European Medicines Agency's executive director, Emer Cooke, said during a press conference that a link between the vaccine and a rare condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST, is possible, but that nothing more could be said at this moment. Ms. Cooke added that it hasn't yet been possible to establish an age- or gender-based link between the shot and the occurrence of the disease, and that there is no evidence to support restricting the use of the vaccine in any population.

As of March 22, there had been 62 cases of the blood-clotting disorder connected to AstraZeneca's vaccine worldwide, the agency said. Of these cases, 44 had originated in the European Economic Area, out of 9.2 million people exposed to the jab, the EMA said, reiterating that a causal link between the shot and the adverse events hasn't been proven.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2021 11:44 ET (15:44 GMT)

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