Several countries including Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Iceland and Thailand have temporarily suspended the Oxford University-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shots over blood clot fears. The UK has administered more than 31 million first vaccine doses, using both the Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Pfizer-BioNTech jabs. People cannot choose which one they get.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said in a statement that “out of the 30 reports up to and including 24 March, sadly  seven have died.” The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which like the World Health Organisation previously declared the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, is expected to announce updated advice on the issue on April 7.