The precautionary principle kills again.
Several European countries recently paused vaccinating their citizens with the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine, in light of scattered reports that a few patients had developed blood clotting after being inoculated. Meanwhile, the continent has been experiencing a third wave of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Now the European Medicines Agency has evaluated the risks and the benefits of being inoculated with the AZ vaccine. “The benefits of the vaccine in combating the still widespread threat of COVID-19 (which itself results in clotting problems and may be fatal) continue to outweigh the risk of side effects,” it concludes. Furthermore, “The vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots…in those who receive it.
