BRADFORD Council has reassured residents that the vaccine is safe after the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was not found to increase the risk of blood clots.

A review was held into the vaccine after some European countries - including Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Sweden - halted the rollout over clotting fears.

Now, findings confirmed that it does not increase the risk of people developing blood clots and Sarah Muckle, director of Public Health at Bradford Council, has urged people to listen to the medical experts and get vaccinated as soon as they are called up.

The review

Rigorous reviews were carried out by Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) following reports of blood clots in a small number of people who had recently had the vaccine.

However, both agencies, along with the World Health Organisation, had stressed from the outset that there was no evidence to suggest the blood clots have been caused by the vaccine and that it was safe to continue using it while the reviews were carried out.

Their findings reflected those of AstraZeneca’s own review of data from more than 17 million people vaccinated in the UK and European Union.

The MHRA review also looked at data for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and confirmed there was no link to either vaccine causing blood clots.

'Our best hope of returning to normal life'

Ms Muckle said:  “There have been 37 reports of blood clots following over 17 million doses of the vaccine being given, which is actually fewer than you would expect to see just by chance in this number of people.

“Both vaccines are safe and work well to protect us against COVID-19; there’s no reason to choose one vaccine over the other and there’s no reason to delay if you are invited to get your vaccine.

“Getting vaccinated is our best hope for returning to normal life and protecting ourselves and our loved ones against this awful virus. 

However it’s still more important than ever to stick with the guidance around social-distancing, wearing masks, washing our hands and isolating if we have symptoms or a positive test result.”