Austria deaths have no link to Astrazeneca vaccine: EMA

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that there is currently no evidence to link the death of two Austrian individuals with the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Thursday, 11th March 2021

Vienna, Austria: Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have been taken by more than 250 million people across the globe and no serious reactions were recorded. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that there is currently no evidence to link the death of two Austrian individuals with the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Austrian health authorities suspended the use of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday after a 49-year old woman died as a result of multiple thromboses — development of blood clots within blood vessels — 10 days after being given the jab. A 35-year-old was also hospitalised for a pulmonary embolism after using a vaccine from the same batch. In a statement on Wednesday, the EMA said that an initial probe showed that "there is currently no solid proof that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side results with this vaccine". "Although a quality defect is deemed questionable at this stage, the batch quality is being investigated," it added. According to the regulator, the batch contained 1 million doses which were delivered to 17 EU countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden. "Although a quality defect is considered suspicious at this stage, the batch quality is being investigated," the EMA stated. "The information possible so far indicates that the number of thromboembolic situations in given people is no higher than that seen in the general community. As of 9 March 2021, 22 cases of thromboembolic events had been reported among the 3 million people discussed with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca in the European Economic Area," it went on. The AstraZeneca jab is one of three currently ordered for use across the EU' 27 member states beside the vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The EMA is expected to approve the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Thursday.