WHO: Keep Using AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) told countries on Friday, March 19, to keep using Oxford's AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, citing the commendation from European and British medicines regulators amid blood clot concerns.

Tedros Adhanom, WHO Director-General, said in a news conference that the organization is urging all the countries of the world to keep "using this important COVID-19 vaccine".

The Director-General made this statement after the vaccine safety panel of the global health body said that according to data gathered, AstraZeneca vaccines did not cause any overall increase in blood clotting conditions.

Earlier this week, the European Medicines Agency had said that AstraZeneca's benefits outweighed the risks, encouraging nations to continue rolling out the vaccine to their citizens.

WHO's Ghebreyesus said that the said vaccine is especially essential in the world's vaccination campaign as it provides more than 90 percent of the vaccines that are distributed through the COVAX, the WHO-led world vaccine-sharing initiative.

He added that it is not a question that the coronavirus is a "deadly disease" and that the virus itself may cause low platelets and blood clots which can be prevented by the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The global advisory committee on vaccine safety by the World Health Organization said that the vaccine had a "positive benefit-risk profile" and a great potential in preventing infections and could reduce deaths.

The panel of WHO, which consists of 12 independent experts, had reviewed the safety data that came from Europe, UK, India, and the organization's database at a virtual meeting on Tuesday and Thursday.

They found that the thromboembolic with thrombocytopenia combinations like the cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) which was also reported after the vaccination of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in some EU nations, while very rare and unique, is certainly not caused by the vaccination.