Germany Reports More Blood Clot Cases Associated With AstraZeneca Vaccine

Germany’s health department reported an additional 21 people who recently received the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine suffered blood clots, The Associated Press reported.

Seven of the people who had blood clots have died, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which is Germany’s federal medical regulatory body, told The Associated Press. Nineteen of the individuals affected by the blood clots were women while just two were men.

Several European countries resumed administering the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month after halting vaccinations due to blood clots, according to Science Magazine. Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were among the nations to stop vaccinations using AstraZeneca doses.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) ultimately reaffirmed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, but said it couldn’t rule out the possibility that it caused rare blood clots, according to Science Magazine.

“The evidence we have is, at the moment, not sufficient to conclude with certainty whether these adverse events are indeed caused by the vaccine or not,” Sabina Straus, chair of the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance and Risk Assessment Committee.

The EMA recommended that patients and doctors were warned of possible side effects associated with the vaccine, according to the AP.

About 2.27 million AstraZeneca doses were given in the period when the 21 blood clot cases were reported.