Germany, France, Italy and Spain are among the countries that say they will resume using the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine starting today, March 19, after the European medicines regulator declared it was “safe and effective.”
Around a dozen European countries had suspended its use earlier this week after reports of rare blood disorders in a handful of people who had recently received the jab.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) ran a study of the vaccine after 13 EU states, among them Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Spain, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria, suspended their AstraZeneca vaccination programs following reports of a link to blood clots.
“Its benefits in protecting people from COVID-19, with the associated risks of death and hospitalization, outweigh the possible risks,” said Emer Cooke, the EMA’s Executive Director.
