Dr Hilary Jones has defended the AstraZeneca vaccine after multiple EU countries have paused use of the jab amid concerns it cause blood clots.
Germany, France, Spain and Italy are the latest countries to temporarily pause injections of the jab after a number of cases in Europe of blood clots were reported after the vaccine was administered.
The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) safety committee is reviewing the data ahead of a meeting on Thursday to determine if any further action is required.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Dr Hilary joined other medical experts in defending the vaccine and responded to the concerns of the possible blood clot side effect.
He told hosts Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard - which you can watch in the video above - that the pausing of the vaccine in some countries is 'extraordinary' and that there is no 'causal link' between the jab and blood clots.
"It's extraordinary because whilst those individual countries and their regulatory bodies are saying let's just pause and have a precautionary look at the data, other people, all the clinical trials, the European Medicines Agency, our own MHRA, the WHO, the 17 million people that have been vaccinated in the UK and EU - all the data shows that there is no causal link and no evidence at all that these blood clots are related to the vaccination, Dr Hilary passionately told viewers.
"And when you look at what Germany and Italy have decided to do, these are countries that have got massive problems with a Covid-19 third wave coming on.
"So, in Paris for example, they are putting people on trains because they have run out of intensive care beds to treat people in the French capital.
"In Italy you have lockdown again in Venice and surrounding areas. And yet they have put this precautionary measure in place which will cost lives.
"And I say that because if you look at the number of blood clots that have been reported in the 17 million people that have been vaccinated, we are talking about 30 for the AstraZeneca vaccine and about 38 for the Pfizer jab, you would see less than that in populations that previously weren't vaccinated at all because blood clots are common anyway," Dr Hilary said
The EMA said “many thousands of people” develop blood clots every year in the EU and “the number of thromboembolic events overall in vaccinated people seems not to be higher than that seen in the general population.”
WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said: "As soon as WHO has gained a full understanding of these events, the findings and any unlikely changes to current recommendations will be immediately communicated to the public."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
