...and Germany faces turmoil over its AstraZeneca jab ban

GERMANY was condemned last night for its decision to ban the Oxford jab for the under-60s, with experts warning it could cost thousands of lives.

The EU medical regulator said there was ‘no evidence’ to support Angela Merkel’s decision to stop younger adults getting the inoculation due to fears of rare blood clots.

Scientists warned the chaos in the EU – where several countries have placed restrictions on the AstraZeneca jab – could also fuel vaccine hesitancy in the UK.

They added any decision by European countries to withhold the vaccine would ‘directly cause excess, avoidable Covid-19 deaths’. Yesterday cabinet minister Robert Jenrick urged Britons to keep getting the jab, saying ‘study after study’ has shown it is safe and is saving thousands of lives.

It came as Austria broke away from the EU’s botched vaccine scheme, saying it would buy a million Russian jabs from Vladimir Putin. In a clear sign of the bloc’s fraying unity, Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has accused Brussels of not providing its fair share of doses to Vienna.

Eurocrats last night threatened once

‘It will directly cause avoidable deaths’

again to block AZ jabs bound for Britain. EU vaccine commissioner Thierry Breton, said no doses would leave the bloc for the UK unless the company fulfilled its commitments to Europe. A senior London official called the comments ‘disappointing’.

On Tuesday night, Germany suspended the use of the Oxford-AZ vaccine for the under-60s after a rise in clotting cases. France has already said it will only give the jab to over-55s, as did Canada this week, while Sweden and Finland are restricting it to over-65s. Denmark and Norway continue to ban it altogether due to blood clot concerns that were first raised last month.

German officials announced the ban in light of 31 cases of rare brain blood clots among the 2.7million people in the country who have received the AZ jab. All but two of the cases, which led to nine deaths, were among women aged 20 to 63.

But scientists say there is no evidence they were caused by the vaccine, and several studies have proven blood clots are less frequent among those who have been vaccinated. Germany’s health minister

Jens Spahn admitted the ban was ‘unquestionably a setback’ for its sluggish rollout.

Karl Lauterbach, a German MP and epidemiologist, said: ‘The vaccine shouldn’t be stopped. The benefits continue to dramatically outweigh [the risks].’ Just 11 per cent of the EU population have received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared with 59 per cent of all UK adults. Yesterday the World Health Organisation said that the vaccine should not be restricted.

And European Medicines Agency executive director Emer Cooke said: ‘According to the current scientific knowledge, there is no evidence that would support restricting the use of this vaccine in any population.’

Communities Secretary Mr Jenrick said: ‘People should continue to go forward, get the vaccine.’

Dr Peter English, former chairman of the British Medical Association’s public health medicine committee, said: ‘Any decision to withhold the vaccine will directly cause excess, avoidable Covid-19 deaths.’