19 Mar 2021

EU drug watchdog rules AstraZeneca vaccine safe

From Morning Report, 6:49 am on 19 March 2021

The EU's drug watchdog says the benefits of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine outweigh the risks following an investigation into reports of blood disorders that prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend its use.

European Medicines Agency director Emer Cooke said it could not definitively rule out a link between blood clot incidents and the vaccine in its probe into 30 cases of a rare clotting condition.

But she said in a briefing the clear conclusion of the review was that the vaccine is "safe and effective".

She hopes that message will be heard in the 13 countries that had halted vaccinations - including France, Germany and Italy.

Brussels correspondent Stuart Smith spoke to Corin Dann.