The World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated that he would meet AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers to take up the issue of its “possible side effects” as claimed by some European countries.
"WHO's advisory committee on vaccine safety has been reviewing the available data, is in close contact with the European Medicines Agency and will meet tomorrow,” media reports quoted Tedros as saying.
European Medicines Agency revealed that it would convene an "extraordinary meeting” on Thursday with AstraZeneca to discuss the side effects. The organisation further stressed that the vaccine benefits outweigh potential risks.
Meanwhile, France, Italy, and Germany joined 10 other countries to temporarily suspend the use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccines after blood clots were reported as a major side effect from the vaccine in some patients.
While the European regulators and the company claimed that there is no evidence the shot is to blame.
AstraZeneca said that it has reviewed safety data of over 17 million people and reached a conclusion that it is safe to administer the vaccine.
Last week, WHO said that it was aware of blood clot concerns linked to “a specific batch” of AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine. However, it maintained that to date, no-one has died from any coronavirus vaccine.