All European Union countries should ban AstraZeneca for the under 60’s because of fears it causes blood clots, according to Portugal, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, James Crisp reports.
Marta Temido wrote to her fellow EU health ministers after a fraught meeting last week, which followed the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said there could be a link with very rare blood clots but the benefits of the jab far outweighed the risks.
The Telegraph has obtained a copy of the letter, which suggests the ban could be a “good starting point” to create a “common European approach”.
“This is essential in order to maintaining the trust of the European citizens in the safety of vaccines against Covid-19… There are many ways through which we can attempt to establish a shared European position and restricting the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the same ages might be a good starting point.”
Ms Temido added that many member states “would support a restriction of the administration of AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 60 years of age.”
“I ask you to please consider adhering to this policy option which would, undoubtedly, constitute an important step in ensuring cohesion in the European vaccination efforts,” she wrote.
Ireland became the latest EU country to introduce age restrictions on Monday night after France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands imposed bans. Some countries, such as France, imposed a lower age limit of 55.
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Déclaration à la presse de Jean-Yves Le Drian, Ministre de l’Europe et des affaires étrangères, à l’issue du Conseil des affaires étrangères de l’Union européenne (Paris, 18.05.2021)