The European Medicines Agency held a press conference this afternoon regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine after France and several other states temporarily suspended its administration following reports of blood clots. Emer Cooke, executive Director of the Agency, said that when millions of people are being vaccinated it is inevitable that there are rare incidents and side effects. A committe of the Agency has produced preliminary results regarding the cases of thrombosis and blood clots but the investigation is ongoing. She said she remained "firmly convinced" that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh any risks. The conclusions of the EMA analysis will be released on Thursday.
President Macron is expected to hold a meeting with members of the Scientific Council this evening. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jean Castex has said that France has entered what he called "a form of third wave" of the coronavirus epedemic. Speaking to the National Assembly this afternoon he said that the epedemic is charachterised by "numerous variants" and vaccination is at the forefront of the government's strategy.
The president of the Provence Alpes Cote D’Azur region, Renaud Muselier, has said that the weekend lockdown could be extended by the government. Speaking on France Bleu Azur this morning he said that he believed the government could soon extend the measures to the whole region with the region soon being in lockdown at “weekends and maybe even during the week”.
The Regional Health Agency in Brittany has said that a new coronavirus variant discovered in the area is not "
