Far from subsiding, as it seemed to be doing last week, the European war over the AstraZeneca vaccine has intensified. Over the past few weeks, EU leaders have swung from accusing the company – and Britain – of hoarding the vaccine and failing to supply it to EU countries, to claiming that it is ineffective, back to accusing us of hoarding it again. But the decision by several European countries to suspend rollout of the vaccine over fears of blood clots is the most serious challenge yet.
This time, however, the blame cannot be laid at the door of the EU – the European Medicines Agency continues to declare the vaccine to be safe and has said that any negative side-effects are outweighed by the benefits. Individual European countries (and non-EU Norway and Iceland) have made the decision themselves.
Fears over blood clots have been largely dismissed in Britain
The fears over blood clots have been largely dismissed in Britain – according to Professor Anthony Harden of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation there has been no higher incidence of the condition among people who have been vaccinated than among the general population (allowing for such things as age and health conditions).
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