Covid vaccine: 'No evidence at all linking the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to increased blood clots'

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Coronavirus vaccine
AstraZeneca
Coronavirus
Wednesday 17 March 2021 at 5:55pm

Some countries have paused the use of the Oxford AstraZenenca vaccine in their vaccination programmes after a small number of people developed blood clots after having it.

Virologist Professor Lawrence Young, from Warwick University, says it's a "bizarre" and "mystifying" decision, given that Europe's own regulator has said the vaccine is safe.

He says around 17 million people in the UK and EU have had the vaccine, with 37 cases of blood clots reported, which is less than you would see in the normal unvaccinated population, so there is "no evidence linking this vaccine to increased blood clots"

Along with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have both said there is no evidence the jab causes blood clots.

Prof Young says this will undermine confidence in the vaccine and he stressed that "Covid is far, far worse than any of the side effects from this or any other vaccine."

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, has also urged people to take the vaccine if they are offered it, saying, “We keep the effects of these vaccines under review all the time and we know that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is saving lives in the UK right now so if you get the call, get the jab.”

Prof Young says "please go ahead and have it, the risks of not having the Covid vaccine far out way the risks and side effects of the vaccine...this is a lifesaving vaccine."