Is the writing on the wall for the AstraZeneca vaccine?

It was the great British scientific triumph: an example of how big pharma can work altruistically for the good of the world, by making a vaccine available at cost price. But is the writing now on the wall for the AstraZeneca vaccine? This afternoon the European Medicines Agency (EMA) ruled that blood clots can be a ‘very rare side effect’ of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. It has encouraged health professionals to communicate that ‘people receiving the vaccine to remain aware of the possibility of very rare cases of blood clots combined with low levels of blood platelets occurring within two weeks of vaccination.’ There may be an age factor as well: ‘So far’ it reports, ‘most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age within two weeks of vaccination.’ Previously, the EMA brushed aside fears about a link with blood clots, which had led to the vaccine being suspected in Germany and other countries, saying that the benefits outweighed the risks.