An expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) said that WHO was currently undertaking a systematic review of any signs and concerns about the safety of the new AstraZeneca vaccine against corona, but recommended that vaccination continue until the investigation is completed.

This follows the decision of some countries to suspend the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine following reports that some people who received it were exposed to clots.

Latvia and Sweden joined Germany, Italy and a number of other European countries that suspended vaccine use as a precautionary measure.

It should be noted that France, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Iceland and Austria temporarily suspended vaccination, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia postponed vaccination.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Vaccine Safety Advisory Committee (GICVS) is undertaking a systematic review of any vaccine safety signals and concerns and meets fortnightly to advise the Organization on any new safety signals or vaccine concerns in general.

The Committee was also carefully assessing current reports on the AstraZeneca vaccine, and once the World Health Organization had a full understanding of those events, the results and any changes to the current recommendations would be communicated to the public immediately.

While AstraZeneca said about 17 million people in the European Union and Britain had received a dose of the vaccine, less than 40 cases of blood clots had been reported as of last week.