No AstraZeneca vaccine causes an increased risk of blood clotting, according to the company

AstraZeneca said Sunday that no safety review found evidence that its COVID-19 vaccine caused an increased risk of blood clots after several countries suspended the use of the shots earlier this week.

The company said it had carried out a “careful review” of safety data after Denmark stopped launching the AstraZeneca spike on Thursday after a 60-year-old woman who received the shot developed a blood clot and went to die. Authorities in Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands and Ireland quickly followed suit while investigations were underway, saying the moves were precautionary and there was no evidence of any links.

The drug maker, however, tried to suppress those fears on Sunday after analyzing data from 17 million people who have already received their vaccine.

“A careful review of all available safety data from more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the UK with the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine has not shown any increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia, at any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country, ”the company said in a statement.

The shooting of AstraZeneca is not yet approved for use in the United States, but the company plans to file an emergency use permit in the coming weeks, Reuters reported.

AstraZeneca chief medical officer Ann Taylor added that the number of blood clots reported among the 17 million people who received the vaccine was “less than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population.” There were 15 events of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism in this group, “much lower than expected to occur naturally,” the company added.

“The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we go beyond standard practices for safety control of drugs authorized in the notification of vaccine events, to ensure public safety,” Taylor said in a statement.

These comments were echoed by the European Medicines Agency earlier this week, which said there was currently “no indication” of a link between the vaccine and blood clots and that the benefits of puncture were greater than any risk.

“The position of the EMA safety committee … is that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh its risks and can continue to be administered while the investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing,” the agency said. .

The AstraZeneca vaccine has had problems with a number of public relations setbacks during its testing and deployment phases. Clinical trials have shown that it has a lower efficacy rate than other leading vaccines, namely the Moderna and Pfizer traits, but is profoundly effective in preventing serious illness and death in people contracting COVID-19.

However, in some countries, hundreds of thousands of doses have remained unopened in recent weeks.