HIV/AIDS company AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) stated on Thursday that many nations across the EU countries plan to restart the AstraZeneca vaccinations following European Medicines Agency's (EMA) conclusion that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.

Among 20m people who have been vaccinated across the UK and the European Economic Area, the EMA reviewed 25 reported cases of blood clots of varying severity. The adverse events are rare and the causal link between them and the vaccine has not been confirmed. By contrast, COVID-19 has been found to cause blood clotting disorders among patients, according to AHF.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been jointly developed with Oxford University in the UK, is important to the global race to vaccinate the world against COVID-19 due to its affordability at only about USD4 per dose, long shelf life of six months as well as ease of storage at regular refrigeration temperatures.

In addition, AstraZeneca is offering its vaccine on at-cost basis to developing countries and is by far the largest supplier of doses to COVAX, an international initiative created to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.