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AMSTERDAM, April 7 (Reuters) - The European drug regulator
has received reports of 169 cases of a rare brain blood clot in
people who received AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, a
official said on Wednesday, as the agency continued to stress
that the benefits of the vaccination outweigh the risks.
The 169 cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), as
of April 4, compared to the 34 million doses of the shot
administered in the European Economic Area, said Sabine Straus,
chair of the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) safety committee.
The comment came as the agency announced that it had found a
possible link between the vaccine and rare blood clotting issues
in adults who had received the shots.
EMA executive director Emer Cooke said the risk of dying
from COVID was "much greater" than the risk of mortality from
rare side effects.
"It is very important that we use the vaccines we have to
try and beat this pandemic," she said.
Straus said side-effects were not unexpected as vaccines
were rolled out on a large scale.
"What we are trying to do is provide all the information
that is available on both the benefits and the risks," she said.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Kate Kelland and
Josephine Mason in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
