AstraZeneca reassures safety of Covid-19 vaccine; says no evidence of increased risks

Countries like Denmark, Norway and Iceland have temporarily suspended the rollout of the company’s vaccine in their respective geographies

As several nations suspended its vaccine from the Covid-19 immunisation drive, AstraZeneca on Monday said a review of safety data of the people who received the shots had shown no signs of elevated risk of blood clots.

“A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union (EU) and UK with Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country,” the company said in a statement here.

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Once considered as the mainstay of the vaccination across the world, the vaccine – manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute in India – ran into trouble following reports of serious blood clotting.

The Netherlands became the latest country to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Iceland and Thailand over claims of blood clotting due to the jab.

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“So far across the EU and UK, there have been 15 events of DVT and 22 events of pulmonary embolism reported among those given the vaccine, based on the number of cases the Company has received as of 8 March,” the company said.

The numbers were much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and was similar across other licensed Covid-19 vaccines, Ann Taylor, AstraZeneca’s Chief Medical Officer said.

“The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond the standard practices for safety monitoring of licensed medicines in reporting vaccine events, to ensure public safety,” Taylor said.

“The company is keeping this issue under close review but available evidence does not confirm that the vaccine is the cause,” the AstraZeneca statement said.