The United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency on Friday recorded 30 cases of blood clots after the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. It further said that the number of cases has led some European countries to take up precautionary measures. However, it maintained that the risks are ‘very small’ and the benefits of the shot continue to outweigh the risks.
Developed by the University of Oxford, AstraZeneca’s vaccine is under fire and is witnessing reducing support in Europe. Even though post-jab complication cases are rising, most countries are looking at them to get them through the pandemic; millions of doses have already been administered in different regions.
According to the UK agency, the 30 incidents were out of 18.1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine given by March 24. Prior to that, the agency disclosed five cases on March 18, out of 11 million shots.
With these 30 new cases, the rate of incidents with the AstraZeneca shot in the UK is about 1 in 600,000. On the other hand, there were no reports of any complications from the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, which is being used in Britain.
“On the basis of this ongoing review, the benefits of the vaccines against Covid-19 continue to outweigh any risks and you should continue to get your vaccine when invited to do so,” the MHRA said.
The UK health agency said that the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines have shown “very high levels of protection” against COVID-19.