Is this a safe and effective vaccine

European nations which paused AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccinations have announced they will be resumed after Europe's drug regulator said the vaccine was not linked to an overall increased risk of blood clots, and that the benefits of use outweighed the risks。he European Medicines Agency (EMA) also said it had found no quality or batch issues with the vaccine.

Concerns over the blood clots led more than a dozen European countries to suspend the use of the vaccine over the past week.

Vaccinations will restart in the coming days.

Emer Cooke, head of the EMA, said the agency "cannot rule out definitively a link" between rare types of blood clots and the vaccine.

The EMA recommended adding a description of these cases to the vaccine leaflets so health workers and patients would be aware.

"Our scientific position is that this vaccine is a safe and effective option to protect citizens against COVID-19," Ms Cooke said.

The Netherlands drug watchdog says they are monitoring 10 cases of noteworthy adverse side effects from AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, hours after the government put its vaccination program on hold following reports of possible unexpected side effects in other countries.

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Download the ABC News app for all the latest.The Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb said in a statement that included cases of possible thrombosis or embolisms, but none of the cases also included a lowered number of platelets, as has been reported reported in Denmark and Norway.

The Dutch government announced shortly before midnight on Sunday that it was halting use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Its decision came hours before the Dutch began casting votes in a national election seen as a referendum on the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision meant 43,000 vaccination appointments would be cancelled at short notice, the country's health authorities said.

The Dutch health ministry said it hoped to resume vaccinations with AstraZeneca within several weeks, describing the halt as a "pause" taken only as a precaution.

"I hope [the halt will last] no longer than a couple of weeks, because we need vaccines to be able to put this nasty period behind us," Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said.