The UK medical regulator said Saturday that out of 30 people who suffered blood clots after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, seven have died.
"Out of the 30 reports up to and including 24 March, sadly 7 have died," the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said in a statement sent to AFP.
Announcing the thirty blood clot cases on Friday, MHRA said "the benefits of the vaccines against Covid-19 continue to outweigh any risks", urging the public to keep taking the vaccine.
Up to 24 March, 22 reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) and eight of other thrombosis events with low platelets were logged.
"The risk of having this specific type of blood clot is very small," the agency noted.
"The number and nature of suspected adverse reactions reported so far are not unusual in comparison to other types of routinely used vaccines," the MHRA online statement on April 2 said.
However there were no such reports for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The Netherlands on Friday became the latest in a line of European countries to halt vaccinations with the AstraZeneca jab for people under the age of 60 amid fears of links to rare blood clots.
The move came after five new cases in the Netherlands affecting women between 25 and 65 years of age, one of whom died.
Germany had taken a similar decision earlier this week.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has also previously declared the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, as has the World Health Organization, is expected to announce updated advice on the issue on April 7.
The EMA said again on Wednesday it believes the vaccine is safe and that experts have found no specific risk factors such as age, gender or medical history.
Britain, where the vaccine was developed with Oxford University, has been one of the countries worst-hit by coronavirus with nearly 127,000 dead.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
