Boris Johnson urges people to 'get your jab' after reports of rare blood clots
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has today stressed the safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, following reports that the vaccine could be restricted for younger people over potential blood clot risks.
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, the PM urged the public to get their jab when they are offered an appointment, reassuring people that the Oxford vaccine is safe.
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Johnson said: "On the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, I think that the best thing people should do is, is look at what the MHRA say – they're our independent regulator that's that's why we have them. And their advice to people is to keep going out there, get your get your jab, get your second jab. Very, very important."
"I think we've now done 31.5 million people in the UK with a first job at least, well over 5 million for the second job, we need to keep that going, 60 per cent of adults have now been done. And clearly, that is starting to have a beneficial effect on the trajectory of the disease. So as I was saying, last night we still got to be careful, we can't be complacent."
His comments come after Marco Cavaleri, the Head of Vaccine Strategy at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), told an Italian Newspaper that there may be a link between the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and "rare cases of unusual blood clots."
Cavaleri said: "We are a regulatory agency and we must have very precise data on the risk-benefit ratio.
"We are trying to get the precise picture of what is happening, to define in detail this syndrome due to the vaccine."
The UK's vaccines regulator, MHRA, is apparently considering offering people under the age of 30 a different vaccine, following concerns over the extremely rare blood clots, it has been reported.
Out of the 18.1 million people who have now received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK, only 30 people have developed blood clots, according to the MHRA.
As of yesterday, the UK has now administered 37,013,749 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
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