The European Union’s drug regulator ruled Thursday that despite concerns over blood-clotting and suspensions by a dozen European nations, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective” to use. The blessing will restart Europe’s sluggish vaccine rollout, which has relied heavily on the British-Swedish product. In a press briefing Thursday afternoon, the European Medicines Agency Director Emer Cooke said that it would continue to study reports of blood-clotting and recommend warning vaccine takers of potential risks of rare clotting. Cooke said seven million people had taken the vaccine so far, and that it has been proven as a reliable tool in the battle to end the pandemic. Several European countries said they would immediately restart inoculating with AstraZeneca if the EMA gave the green light.
