Canada adds blood clot warning to AstraZeneca vaccine but says its safe

Health Canada on Wednesday added blot clot warning to AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine while it assured that the shots are safe and effective. The nation has updated the Astrazeneca vaccine’s product label to provide information on  “very rare reports of blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets,” quoted Reuters.

Health Canada said that it has not received any reports of the reported blood clots till now.

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This comes as Canada is witnessing a surge in infections as new daily COVID-19 cases are up by 15% across the nation. 

Canada’s statement on Astrazenece came after several health regulators said that AstraZeneca COVID-19 is safe to use and ruled out the blood clot concerns, over which many nations, including France, Germany, and Italy, had halted its use. 

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Canada is using the AstraZeneca vaccine made at the Pune-based Serum Institute of India and has received 500,000 doses and is hoping to get 1.5 million more by the month of May.

However, India has reportedly blocked all the exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine made in the SII amid an upsurge of coronavirus cases in India and increasing demands of vaccination in the nation. The ban is expected to affect the supply of vaccine shots to Canada too.