EU regulator calls in experts over AstraZeneca jab

THE HAGUE: The European Medical Agency (EMA) has announced it will convene a group of experts on Monday to delve further into incidents of blood clotting in people who have received AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.

The Amsterdam-based regulator last week declared the jab was "safe and effective" and not linked to clotting.

The group of medical experts and two representatives of the public will "provide additional input into the assessment", the EMA said in a statement on Thursday.

Numerous European countries quickly followed the EMA recommendation and lifted their suspensions of AstraZeneca vaccinations as infections and deaths continue to climb.

The agency declared, as did the World Health Organization, that the benefits from the jab continue to outweigh the risk of side effects.

But the EMA is pursuing investigations, noting a link could not definitively be ruled out to a rare clotting disorder.

The group convening on Monday will cover "aspects such as any plausible mechanism of action, possible underlying risk factors and any additional data needed to gain a deeper understanding of the observed events and the potential risk", an EMA statement said.

The outcome of the expert meeting will feed into the safety panel's updated health recommendation due to be published between April 6-9.