The chairman of the UK's vaccine committee and Dr Hilary Jones defended the AstraZeneca vaccine after several EU countries suspended use of the Oxford jab over blood clot concerns.
Sweden is the latest EU nation to pause use of the vaccine, following Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
AstraZeneca, the European Medicines Agency, the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) which advises the UK Government all say the vaccine is safe, but reports of blood clots developing in people after their jab has led to several countries suspending use of the vaccine.
The UK continues to offer it.
Deputy Chair of the JCVI, Professor Antony Harnden, appeared on Good Morning Britain to answer questions about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He told viewers the "risk of developing clots from Covid far exceeds any potential risk from the jab".
Professor Harnden said: "Safety is of paramount importance to any vaccination programme.
"We've immunised 11 million or more doses of AstraZeneca vaccine - to date - in the UK and we're not seeing any increase in signals of blood clots between the vaccinated group and that of what you would expect in the general population.
"Moreover, the MHRA, the JVCI which I sit on, who review the evidence regularly; The European Medicine Agency and the WHO have all come out and said this vaccine is safe."
"Clearly we need to keep a very close monitor of the situation and we will do going forward. But what I would say is it is really important to remember Covid is a vascular illness and causes clots all over the body. So the risk of developing blood clots through Covid far, far exceeds the potential risk from the vaccination."
Professor Harnden insisted he has "no doubt that this vaccine is safe and effective".
Around 11 million people in the UK have had the AstraZeneca vaccine, along with a further 7 million elsewhere in Europe.
Good Morning Britain's Dr Hilary Jones said it is "extraordinary" that countries have chosen to suspend the vaccine.
He said: "It is extraordinary, because whilst those 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, 17 million people who've vaccinated in the UK and EU, all the data shows there's no casual link, that these blood clots are related to the vaccination.
"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.
"In Paris, for example, they are putting people on trains because they've run out of intensive care beds. In Italy, you've got lockdown again in Venice and the surrounding areas, and yet they've got this precautionary measure which will cost lives."
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."
