France, Italy will allow AstraZeneca vaccine if EU regulator says it’s safe

The Italian government announced that France and Italy will allow the AstraZeneca vaccine to be used if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves it. 

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone call Tuesday and agreed to allow the AstraZeneca vaccine to be used as long as the EMA approves it first after both countries suspended it due to concerns that it causes blood clots, Bloomberg reported.

Germany, France and Italy all suspended the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after multiple people in Europe got a blood clot following their vaccination, with some dying from it.

However, the World Health Organization and the EMA have both said there is no connection between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the blood clots.

An Italian regulator said the move to block the vaccine was “political” and that the vaccine was safe.

The EMA is expected to give a full assessment of the situation Thursday, according to Bloomberg. The agency is concerned this move affected public trust in the vaccine.

As the European Union is being ridiculed for the slow rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, many countries are going after AstraZeneca, saying it failed to distribute the number of vaccines it promised in the original contract.