AstraZeneca said that the findings are “much lower” than expected in the general population. The company’s chief medical officer Ann Taylor said in a statement that in the general population getting the vaccine, there would be “hundreds” of blood clots side effects. She added that AstraZeneca was “going beyond the standard practices” to manage the safety of the vaccine.
Health agencies urge countries to continue using AstraZeneca
However, several countries — particularly Europe — have halted the AstraZeneca shots after the statement. And on Monday, Netherlands, Indonesia and Germany also paused the use of the shots. Thailand had paused the shots on the same day but said that it would re-start using the vaccine on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said that countries should not stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine. UK’s MHRA and The European Medicines Agency have also backed the vaccine and urged countries to keep using it. To this moment, the pharmaceutical company hasn’t demanded authorization for the jab in the United States yet.
