The Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) has recommended further use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, sharing the opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that the benefits of vaccination considerably outweigh the risks of side effects because the vaccine effectively protects against hospitalization and death.

The Covid-19 case fatality rate currently stands at 2.2 percent, “which means that statistically for each 45 confirmed cases of infection in Croatia one fatal outcome can be expected,” the HZJZ said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it would continue closely monitoring the safety and efficiency of the vaccine and keep the public updated on the matter.

The HZJZ said that EMA has found that, although it is not possible to rule out a possible link between vaccination against Covid-19 and development of very rare cases of unusual blot clots with low levels of blood platelets, the overall benefits of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in preventing hospitalisation or death outweigh the risks of side effects.

“So far, most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 years of age within 2 weeks of vaccination. Based on the currently available evidence, specific risk factors have not been confirmed,” EMA said.

On Wednesday, UK authorities said that people younger than 29 would be given the option to choose a vaccine other than AstraZeneca. Germany had earlier suspended vaccination using AstraZeneca for everyone under the age of 30.