Italy resumed administering AstraZeneca/Oxford coronavirus vaccines today after the EU’s drugs regulator declared them safe, prime minister Mario Draghi said, according to AFP.
Italy suspended the use of the jab on Monday, one of a number of European countries taking precautionary action following concerns it was linked to blood clots.
“The government’s priority remains to carry out as many vaccinations as possible in the shortest possible time,” Draghi said in a statement.
Italy’s health regulator AIFA lifted the ban but the health ministry and AstraZeneca jabs were again in use from 3:00pm local time.
A target to triple vaccinations to 500,000 per day by mid-April and to fully vaccinate 80 per cent of the population by mid-September has been set by the government. Sources told AFP this week that the suspension of the AstraZeneca jabs meant around 200,000 fewer vaccinations this week.
An EMG institute survey for the Adnkronos news agency published yesterday asked respondents if the affair over the jabs and blood clots had damaged their confidence in vaccines, to which 49% answered yes and 49% said no.
