The European Medicines Agency (EMA) insists side effects of blood clotting after AstraZeneca vaccine injections are extremely rare.
EMA came to that conclusion after conducting a study of 86 cases in Europe and found that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.
“Our safety committee confirmed the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19 as a whole outweigh the risk of its side effects.
"The vaccine has proven to be very effective, can prevent serious diseases and can save lives," said EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke.
The report covers data on 25 million Europeans who have been vaccinated. Most cases of blood clots occur in women under the age of 60 years.
Cooke added that one plausible explanation for the rare side effect was the immune response to the vaccine.
He said the condition was similar to that detected by patients treated with heparin, a drug used to prevent blood clots.
In some cases, adverse effects occur as a result of the use of the drug, causing a disease known as 'heparin-induced thrombocytopenia' or HIT.
According to the BBC, it is now up to each country to decide the type of vaccine to be used for each group but the decision is also subject to access to alternative vaccines.
