BERLIN – The head of the European Medicines Agency said Wednesday that there is “no evidence” that would support restricting the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in any population, as Germany has now done amid concerns over rare blood clots in people who got the shot.
But EMA executive director Emer Cooke said her Amsterdam-based agency continues to study reports of new cases as they come in and will provide a further assessment next week.
On Tuesday, an independent vaccine expert panel in Germany said AstraZeneca shots should not routinely be given to people younger than 60 because of a rise in reported cases of unusual blood clots in the days after vaccination.
The German government followed the recommendation and said the British-Swedish company’s vaccine would be prioritized for people age 60 and older, with exceptions made in consultation with doctors.
The move put the spotlight back on the European Medicines Agency, which authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine in January and said last month – after some European countries suspended its use over blood clot fears – that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks.
“According to the current scientific knowledge, there is no evidence that would support restricting the use of this vaccine in any population,” Cooke told reporters.
She said the agency’s assessment was based on 62 cases worldwide of unusual blood clots, including 14 deaths, reported to EMA by March 22. Those figures included a “significant” number of the cases reported from Germany, but not all, Cooke said.
German regulators said they had received 31 reports of rare blood clots in the head in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine and nine deaths up to March 29, roughly doubling the number that had been reported in the country by March 22.
Cooke said the EMA will include the Germany cases in its review “and they will form part of the ongoing evaluation that the committee is undertaking, as will any additional cases that are reported from other countries and regions.”
