Bulgaria to resume vaccinations with AstraZeneca's shots

Reuters
·1 min read
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: A man waits to receive a dose of AstraZeneca's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine administered by medical personnel from a mobile unit in the village of Ognen, Bulgaria

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria will resume inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine from Friday after the European drug regulator said the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any potential risks, the head of the Bulgarian Medicines Agency said on Thursday.

Bogdan Kirilov said that an investigation into the death of a Bulgarian woman hours after she got an AstraZeneca shot did not establish a direct link to the inoculation.

"We have all the reasons to lift the suspension and start administrating the vaccine again as of tomorrow," Kirilov said.

The Balkan country has about 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca shots in stock, received before it temporarily suspended its rollout last Friday.

With 350,700 people vaccinated so far with a first dose, the country of 7 million people holds the poorest inoculation record in the European Union.

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Steve Orlofgsky)