(Adds comments from region, foreign minister and details)
MADRID, April 7 (Reuters) - A regional Spanish health
authority said on Wednesday it had suspended AstraZeneca
COVID-19 shots pending a European Medicines Agency (EMA) safety
report, though the national government said it would continue to
use the vaccine for now.
The Castile and Leon region will review whether to use the
vaccine after EU and national health authorities make a decision
based on the EMA safety report, the regional health service said
on its website.
EMA experts have reviewed to what extent some cases of blood
clotting in adults who had recently received the AstraZeneca
vaccine may be linked to the injections and the agency expects
to hold a briefing on the possible side-effects later on
Wednesday.
Spain's national government considers the vaccine to be
safe, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters.
"For us in Spain, what matters is what the EMA says, and so
far they said that it's safe and we will continue to vaccinate
with AstraZeneca because we trust the experts and the EMA," she
said.
Spain, together with other European countries, suspended the
use of the vaccine for a few days last month, but then resumed
shots when EMA said the benefits clearly outweighed the risks.
AstraZeneca has said previously its studies have found no
higher risk of clots because of the vaccine.
Spain is accelerating its COVID-19 vaccination rollout and
seeks to fully inoculate 25 million people, or about 53% of the
population, by late July.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, writing by
Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip and Nick Macfie)