The World Health Organization has said there's no link between AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and blood clots, though several countries have stopped distributing the vaccine after reports of people developing blood clots after being vaccinated, The Hill reported.
Iceland, Denmark and Norway, among other countries, have halted use of AstraZeneca's vaccine. Denmark said it has received reports of dozens of people forming blood clots after getting the shot and at least one death, The Hill reported. None of the reports has been confirmed to be caused by the vaccine.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said March 12 that the European Medicines Agency has said there's no indication of a link between the vaccine and blood clots, and that the vaccine can continue to be used, The Hill reported.
The WHO's global advisory committee on vaccine safety is reviewing the reports of blood clots.
"There will be people who have been immunized who will die of other causes. So far the preliminary data we have seen does not lead to a causal relationship," Mariângela Simão, a WHO assistant director-general, said, according to The Hill.
AstraZeneca's vaccine is the main vaccine being distributed as part of the WHO's Covax effort, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, The Hill reported.
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