The UK’s vaccination programme must continue if the country is to emerge from lockdown, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said, as investigations continue into potential links between the AstraZeneca jab and blood clots.
Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the JCVI, said it was vital to keep vaccines going as society opens up, in order to help stave off rising infection rates.
It comes as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are expected to give updates on their investigations into whether the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is directly causing rare brain blood clots.
The UK’s vaccination programme must continue if the country is to emerge from lockdown, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said, as investigations continue into potential links between the AstraZeneca jab and blood clots.
Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the JCVI, said it was vital to keep vaccines going as society opens up, in order to help stave off rising infection rates.
It comes as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are expected to give updates on their investigations into whether the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is directly causing rare brain blood clots.
England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam is to host a briefing with the medicines regulator following an investigation into the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine and potential links with blood clots.
A televised media briefing will be held at 3pm on Wednesday – the same time the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is offering an update on whether it thinks there is a causal link between the jab and rare clots.
Prof Van-Tam will be joined by Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of the Commission on Human Medicines, and Professor Wei Shen, chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency says benefit still outweighs risk for majority despite blood clot concerns
7 April 2021 • 4:48pm
Healthy young people aged 18 to 29 should be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, it has been recommended amid ongoing fears over blood clots.
On Wednesday, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said more work was needed to establish a definite link between the AstraZeneca jab and rare brain blood clots, and that the benefit still outweighed the risk for the majority.
However, the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation has recommended that under-30s be offered an alternative vaccine. People in Wales began receiving the Moderna vaccine on Wednesday morning, and England, Scotland and Northern Ireland will receive supplies within the coming days.
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