EU regulator: Currently "no indication" AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots
16 March 2021
The head of the European Medicines Agency said at a briefing Tuesday that while a full review is ongoing, there is currently "no indication" that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is responsible for the small number of blood clots reported in patients in Europe.
Driving the news: EMA executive director Emer Cooke said she is "firmly convinced" that the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot "far outweigh" the risks, and expressed concern that the suspension of vaccinations by dozens of European countries could increase vaccine skepticism.
- Cooke said that EMA experts will meet on Thursday to come to a final conclusion after conducting a full analysis of the data.
- Germany, France, Spain and Italy were among the dozens of countries that suspended vaccinations on Tuesday as they awaited the results of the EMA review.
The big picture: AstraZeneca says that out of the 17 million people who have received the vaccine in the EU and U.K., the number experiencing blood clot symptoms is actually lower than would be expected in the general population.
Go deeper: What's going on with the AstraZeneca vaccine
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.