Expert WHO Committee To Review AstraZeneca Vaccine After Worrying Side Effects Appear

Even amid concerns that have led an increasing number of countries to stop distributing the COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZenecaa, the World Health Organization is urging its continued use.

The WHO’s global advisory committee on vaccine safety is reviewing reports of blood clots that have emerged in individuals who have had the shots, WHO spokeswoman  Margaret Harris said, according to Reuters.

“It is very important we are hearing safety signals because if we were not hearing about safety signals that would suggest there is not enough review and vigilance,” she said.

Mariangela Simao, the WHO’s assistant director general, said Friday that the shots are considered safe despite the clot reports, according to The Washington Post.

In some cases, fatalities have been reported from clotting, but no direct link with vaccinations has been proven, The Post reported.

“We should continue immunization until we have clarified the causal relationship,” Simao said, according to The Post.

“People die every day. There will be people who are immunized who die of other causes.”

But that kind of logic is lost on nations that are concerned after reports that three Norwegian health care workers were hospitalized with blood clots after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.