AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The European drug regulator has received reports of 169 cases of a rare brain blood clot in people who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The total for cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) were recorded as of April 4 out of 34 million doses of the shot administered in the European Economic Area, said Sabine Straus, chair of the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) safety committee.
The comment came as the agency announced that it had found a possible link between the vaccine and rare blood clotting issues in adults who received the shots.
It stressed again that the benefits of the shots outweighed the risks.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Kate Kelland and Josephine Mason in London; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
