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Latest coronavirus news as of 5pm on 9 April
The EU’s medicines regulator is reviewing a small number of reports of rare blood clots in people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine
The European Union’s medicines regulator is reviewing four reported cases of rare blood clots associated with low levels of platelets – small particles in the blood that normally help in clotting – including one case which was fatal, in people who received the Johnson & Johnson covid-19 vaccine. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is also reviewing five reported cases of a bleeding condition, called capillary leak syndrome, in people who received the Oxford/AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine. “At this stage, it is not yet clear whether there is a causal association” between the vaccines and the reported conditions, the EMA said. Both the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are based on viral vector technologies, which use inactivated cold
Covid-19 news: Italy, Spain, Belgium limit use of AstraZeneca vaccine
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Latest coronavirus news as of 5pm on 7 April
UK committee advises under-30s be offered alternative to AstraZeneca jab, while EU review finds no evidence age or gender are risk factors for side effects
The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that people under the age of 30 with no underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative covid-19 vaccine instead of the Oxford/AstraZeneca shot where possible, due to evidence linking the vaccine to rare blood clots. A review by the UK’s medicines regulator found that by the end of March, 79 people in the UK had experienced rare blood clots following vaccination with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – 19 of whom had died. The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said this was not definitive evidence that the vaccine caused the clots but said the link was becoming firmer. However, both the MHRA in the UK and the EU’s medici