Countries resume AstraZeneca vaccine rollout after reassurances

Almost a dozen countries from Indonesia to France start using the COVID vaccine again, as EMA, WHO and UK bodies quell fears over blood clot reports.

Nearly a dozen countries resumed use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shots on Friday as European Union and British regulators said the benefits outweighed any risks after reports of rare instances of blood clotting that temporarily halted inoculations. The end of suspensions will kick off a test of public confidence, both in the shot and in drug regulators whose conclusions are under unprecedented scrutiny, as virus variants spread and the global death toll, now at nearly 2.7 million, rises. Indonesia joined Germany, France and others in readministering the shots after they suspended vaccinations on reports of about 30 cases of rare brain blood clots, after millions of injections, that sent scientists and governments scrambling to determine if there was a link.