EU Says Benefits of All Approved Vaccines Outweigh Risks Amid AstraZeneca Safety Concerns

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - All four vaccines approved for the EU market have a positive benefit-to-risk ratio, the EU Commission's Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (SANTE) stated on Friday.

"All #COVID19 vaccines approved in the EU have shown a positive benefit-risk balance in prevention of the disease," the SANTE posted on official Twitter.

Currently, four vaccines are approved for use in the EU, including Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson.

In March, multiple reports came up about patients experiencing severe complications after receiving AstraZeneca vaccine. Austria became the first to publicly express concern after a person died from blood clots within ten days from vaccination and another was hospitalized with pulmonary embolism.

Following the news, several European states have suspended the use AstraZeneca as a precautionary measure until further investigations into the drug's safety are made.

On March 18, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that there was no conclusive evidence that AstraZeneca shots can be linked to higher risks of thromboembolic complications. The regulator confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and stressed that its benefits significantly outweigh the possible risks.

On Wednesday, the EMA further reiterated that it "sees no reason to restrict the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for certain categories of the population" as more reports of cases of blood clotting have surfaced across the EU.