WHO says no link between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots

AstraZeneca is struggling to deliver its promised doses to the European Union, and now it is trying to deal with reports of serious adverse events that may have nothing to do with its vaccine.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said there was no risk from taking AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, even as some countries have paused distribution over blood clot concerns.

Despite no clear evidence of a link, countries including Iceland, Denmark and Norway have halted their use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine following reports that it could be connected to blood clots.

During a briefing Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus reiterated that the European Medicines Agency has said there is no indication of a link between the vaccine and Mariângela Simão, a WHO assistant director-general, said she thinks people have confused causation with correlation.

“People die every day,” she said, adding that more than 335 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally so far and no deaths have been found to have been caused by the vaccines.