‘Link’ between AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and rare blood clots, EMA official says

THERE is a “link” between the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and blood clots, one European Medicines Agency (EMA) official has claimed.

Regulators in the UK and the European Union have both stated the jab is “safe and effective”, but the comments from the official contradict their statements.

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One official today claimed that there is a link between the vaccine and blood clots[/caption]

Speaking to Italy’s Il Messaggero newspaper, the EMA’s head of vaccines Marco Cavaleri said it is not yet clear what is causing blood clots from the jab.

He said: “In my opinion, we can say it now, it is clear there is a link with the vaccine. But we still do not know what causes this reaction.

“In the next few hours, we will say that there is a connection, but we still have to understand how this happens”.

Mr Cavaleri said the EMA is currently trying to get a “precise picture” of what is happening with the vaccine in order to “define in detail” why people are getting blood clots.

He added: “Among the vaccinated, there are more cases of cerebral thrombosis… among young people than we would expected.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) revealed on Friday that the UK as seen 30 blood clot cases in people who received the AstraZeneca jab. 

Of those, 22 are the rare CVST kind of clot that caused concern in Europe and eight were other thrombosis events.

That is out of 18.1million doses administered in the UK – making it extremely rare at around one in 600,000.

But despite scientists saying that the benefit of vaccination far out weighs the risks of blood clots – there are now fears that the use of the jab in younger people is “more complicated”.

It was last night revealed that the AstraZeneca jab could be blocked for people under-30 as soon as today by the UK’s vaccine regulator.

It’s important to note however that both regulators in the UK and the European Union, have deemed the jab “safe and effective for use” and have said that there are side effects that occur in most medications.

The MHRA has not yet confirmed that it will block the jab for any age group, but sources have claimed that this is expected to happen.

In a statement, the MHRA said that no decision has yet been made on any regulatory action and that the review into the jab in “ongoing”.

This morning the UK’s vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi also said the vaccine was safe for use and added that it had already “saved thousands of Brits from dying”.