The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries not to pause Covid vaccinations, as several EU countries halted their rollouts of the Oxford AstraZeneca jab.
It said there was no evidence of a link between the vaccine and blood clots.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain have now joined Denmark, Norway and Iceland in halting vaccinations as a precaution while data is examined.
WHO’s vaccine safety experts meet today to discuss the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will also meet and is due to draw conclusions on Thursday. It has also said the vaccine should continue to be used.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sought to reassure anxious Scots over safety concerns yesterday.
She told the daily media briefing: “We are of course – as I’m sure you are too – aware that some countries, most recently the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, have paused their use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“You might be hearing reports of this in the media and you might have concerns as a result. So I wanted to take the opportunity today to address this directly.
“In the UK, the decision to suspend the use of any vaccine is a matter for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
“The MHRA has confirmed to us that there is no current evidence of an increase in blood clots being caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine. That is the issue that has caused the pause in some other countries.
“As you would expect, though, the MHRA is continuing to monitor this carefully, and it remains in regular contact with other regulators.
“There is, however, significant and growing evidence of the benefits of vaccination in reducing death, illness and we hope now, reducing transmission as well – and the vaccination programme continues to make very good progress.
“So for all these reasons and based on the advice and opinion of the MHRA, we continue to urge people to come forward for vaccination included with the AstraZeneca vaccine when you are invited to do so.“
Indeed, I can confirm that, as of 8.30 this morning, 1,908,991 people in Scotland have received the first dose of the vaccine.
“That is an increase of 20,294 since yesterday.
“In addition, 1,907 people yesterday received the second dose, which brings the total number of second doses now to 161,945.
“So as of now, virtually all people over the age of 65 have had the first dose of the vaccine. So too have 53% of 60-64 year olds; 41% of 55 to 59 year olds; and 33% of 50 to 54 year olds.
“As the Health Secretary indicated when she was here on Friday, we expect the pace of vaccination to pick up significantly again this week in line with increased supplies.
“So we are expecting that, taking first and second doses together, there will be around 400,000 vaccinations done over the course of this week.”
MHRA response to the precautionary suspensions of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca
‘It has not been confirmed that the reports of blood clots were caused by the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. People should still go and get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so.’
Dr Phil Bryan, MHRA Vaccines Safety Lead said: “We are closely reviewing reports but the evidence available does not suggest the vaccine is the cause.
“Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon. More than 11 million doses of the COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca have now been administered across the UK, and the number of blood clots reported after having the vaccine is not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population.
“We are working closely with international counterparts in understanding the global safety experience of COVID-19 vaccines and on the rapid sharing of safety data and reports.
“People should still go and get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so.”
