Germany, France, Italy and Spain are among the countries that say they will resume using the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine after the European medicines regulator declared it was “safe and effective”.
Other nations due to restart the Oxford jab rollout include Portugal, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Bulgaria.
Sweden says it will take a decision about its paused rollout next week, while Ireland expects to announce on Friday its decision on whether to restart its AstraZeneca programme.
Around a dozen European countries had suspended its use earlier this week after reports of rare blood disorders in a handful of people who had recently received the jab.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said the benefits of the jab in protecting people from coronavirus-related death or hospitalisation outweigh the possible risks – and the vaccine is not linked to an “overall risk” of blood clots.
However, the agency’s safety committee has also said it can’t rule out a potential link with a “small number of cases” of a rare clotting disorder occurring after the vaccination.
