‘A reported combination of blood clots and low blood platelets is very rare, and the overall benefits of the vaccine to prevent Covid-19 outweigh the risks of side effects,’ a report from the healthcare agency notes.

The text published on Wednesday assured that there may be a possible link between those events and the vaccine’s injection; therefore, EMA asked healthcare professionals and those who receive the doses to be aware of responses of such nature.

However, the healthcare entity notes that the overall usefulness of vaccination with AstraZeneca remains positive with respect to the hazards.

It adds that so far, most side effects have occurred in women under 60 years olds in the two-week period following injection.

The EMA safety committee pointed out that blood clots occurred in the veins of the brain (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis), abdomen (splanchnic vein thrombosis) and arteries, along with low blood platelet levels and sometimes bleeding.

One likely explanation for such events is the individual’s immune response, which leads to a condition similar to that sometimes seen in patients treated with heparin, a class of anticoagulant drug, the document suggests.

It also highlights that AstraZeneca/Oxford is one of four vaccines licensed in the European Union to protect against the disease and reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from Covid-19.

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