Boris Johnson confirms he will be getting AstraZeneca Covid jab ‘very shortly’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions
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Boris Johnson has revealed he will be getting the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine “very shortly” after a number of European countries suspended its rollout over safety concerns.

Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands are among the European countries who have temporarily suspended use of the AstraZeneca jab, despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying in a statement that it still believed the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweighed any risks.

During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Conservative MP Steve Brine asked Mr Johnson to address “disinformation” that had led to some EU countries suspending use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mr Johnson told MPs: “The best thing I can say about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme is I have finally got news that I’m going to have my own jab very shortly.”

He added: “It will certainly be Oxford/AstraZeneca that I will be having.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock had already sought to reassure the public that the Oxford jab is safe.

He told broadcasters: “The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab is safe, we know that over 10 million people have had it in this country, and that’s what the British regulator says but also the World Health Organisation and even the European regulator.

“We keep the effects of these vaccines under review all the time and we know that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is saving lives in the UK right now so if you get the call, get the jab.”

Mr Hancock added in an article for The Sun that “there is no evidence that vaccines caused these clots”.

It comes as Professor Jeremy Brown, from the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said the move by several European countries to suspend the vaccine over blood clot fears was “not sensible” and was “not logical”.

France and Italy are said to be ready to reinstate the jab once the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reveals the results of its investigation on Thursday.

Some of the focus has been on Germany, where officials have received seven reports in total of bleeding and a form of severe cerebral venous thrombosis associated with low platelets.

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Of the seven people, three have died, and all were aged between 20 and 50, officials said.

Six of the people had a particular form of cerebral venous thrombosis, called sinus vein thrombosis, and all of these were “younger to middle-aged women”.

Professor Brown said he did not believe clots reported in Germany “will turn out to be linked to the vaccine anyway – this is an incredibly rare event”.

He added: “We don’t know how often it occurs, even if people have not been vaccinated.

“It’s a complication of actually having acute Covid infection itself, and therefore it’s very, very rare and unlikely to be linked to the vaccine.

“Using that as a reason to stop using the vaccine when we know the vaccine prevents 85 to 90 per cent admission to hospital is not sensible.”

He later told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the concerns raised in Germany were “overblown”.

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