Johnson’s statement comes after France, Germany and Italy on Monday, 15 March, joined hands to stop the rollout of AstraZeneca vaccine over fear of blood clots and brain haemorrhage.
They were later joined by Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Latvia, in spite of the World Health Organisation (WHO) insisting that the vaccine is safe to use. Apart from Europe, Indonesia also suspended the rollout.
The suspensions of vaccine rollout have been a blow to the global immunisation campaign that was aimed at ending the pandemic.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that they don’t want people to panic and would recommend countries to continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca.
Referring to the cases where recipients developed blood clots, she added, “So far, we do not find an association between these events and the vaccine.”
The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is holding a special meeting on Thursday, reiterated the need to remain calm and added that it was better to get the vaccine…