EU regulator: Benefit outweighs risk

Brussels The European Union’s drug regulator insisted Tuesday that there is “no indication” the Astrazeneca vaccine causes blood clots as governments around the world faced the grimmest of dilemmas: Push on with a vaccine known to save lives or suspend its use over reports of clotting in some recipients.

The European Medicines Agency urged governments not to halt use of the vaccine at a time when the pandemic is still taking thousands of lives each day. And already there are concerns that even brief suspensions could have disastrous effects on confidence in inoculation campaigns the world over, many of which are already struggling to overcome logistical hurdles and widespread hesitancy about vaccines.

“We are still firmly convinced that the benefits of the Astrazeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19 with its associated risk of hospitalization and death outweigh the risk of the side effects,” said Emer Cooke, agency head.

Many scientists have argued that even the loss of a few days in vaccinating vulnerable people could be far costlier than the impact of any rare phenomenon.

But a number of countries have locked away shots from the Angloswedish company, awaiting the results of an EMA review, promised Thursday.

Sweden was the latest to do so Tuesday, choosing caution over speed, even as Cooke insisted “that at present there is no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions.”

Highlighting the difficulty of making such decisions at a time when people are following the ups and downs of every vaccine candidate, Sweden’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said the risk, if it existed, was rare but the country’s authorities “have felt compelled to pause Astrazeneca’s vaccine” after receiving ever more reports of blood clots.