(Adds more health minister's comments)
WARSAW, March 15 (Reuters) - Poland's health minister said
on Monday that the benefits of using AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risks, after a number of countries
suspended use of the shot due to concerns about side-effects.
"At the moment we still believe that... the benefits from
vaccination in terms of the increase in public safety are much
bigger than possible risks from taking the AstraZeneca vaccine,"
Adam Niedzielski told a press conference.
Several EU countries have stopped administering the
AstraZeneca vaccine after reports from Denmark and Norway of
possible serious side-effects, including bleeding and blood
clots.
Niedzielski told the Radio Zet station there were currently
no grounds to suspend use of the vaccine, but that Poland would
follow the recommendation that the European Union's medicine
regulator, the EMA, is expected to issue this week.
"We have to be very careful here on the one hand, but also
not be hysterical," Niedzielski said.
He added that Poland expected to receive one million of
AstraZeneca vaccines in April.
Poland reported 10,896 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a
77% jump from the previous Monday. Niedzielski said that if the
trend continued, Poland will have to reimpose nationwide
restrictions, which have been replaced by regional ones.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by
Kevin Liffey)