European media reports said yesterday that the European Union (EU)'s leading states are to restart their roll-out of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after Europe's medicines regulator concluded it was “safe and effective.”

According to the BBC, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reviewed the jab after 13 EU states suspended use of the vaccine over fears of a link to blood clots.  It found the jab was “not associated” with a higher risk of clots.

“This is a safe and effective vaccine,” EMA director Emer Cooke told a briefing, according to Reuters.

Germany, France, Italy and Spain said they would resume using the jab.

It is up to individual EU states to decide whether and when to re-start vaccinations using the AstraZeneca vaccine.  Sweden said it needed a “few days.”

Recall, more than 20 countries stopped vaccinations earlier this week following reports of mostly young patients who suffered severe clotting disorders and rare types of strokes shortly after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.