On March 18 the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that the Astra Zeneca vaccine was ,safe, with the NIAC recommending on Friday that the programme should resume. Writing in today's Sunday Independent, Trinity academic Prof Luke O'Neill said that "farcical aspects" emerged including the deferral when the Covid variants were raging across Europe. Read MoreThe immunologist also said that the advice from the EMA, who stated that the Astra Zeneca vaccine was safe, had been ignored and that the decision to halt the vaccine should be left to the EMA to "save the hassle". This afternoon NPHET member Professor Philip Nolan, president of Maynooth University, hit back at Prof O'Neill's comments saying that good pharmacovigilance "makes for high vaccine confidence in the medium-to-long term". The administration of the Astra Zeneca vaccine resumed yesterday, with HSE chief Paul Reid saying that the 30,000 people who had their second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine temporarily suspended should get notification to receive it in the coming days.

Source: Irish Independent March 21, 2021 18:00 UTC