The benefits of using AstraZeneca vaccines outweigh the risk, the director of the European Medicine Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday.

Experts of the EMA will conclude their assessment on Thursday whether blood clots are side effects of AstraZeneca vaccines or the reported cases present a coincidence, Emer Cooke told journalists.

She said that work was still ongoing for the final scientific conclusion, but the EMA's opinion remains the same for the time being "benefits outweigh the risks of side effects."

The EMA director stressed that the agency's safety committee, with the involvement of international partners and experts in thrombosis, had been evaluating all safety risks related to the British-Swedish jab since last week.

-The number of thrombotic events with vaccinated people doesn't seem higher than in the entire population- Cooke added.

She went on to say, "when you vaccinate millions, it is inevitable to have incidents."

She stressed several thousand Europeans develop blood clots every day, and clinical trials had not even listed the risk of blood clots or thrombosis as a possible side effect of the jab.

The EU regulator director declined to answer questions on whether problems were related to a specific batch of vaccines or a production side but reassured that experts were doing a case-by-case evaluation.

Over the past week, several European countries – including Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway – suspended the use of AstraZeneca jab after blood clots were reported in some vaccinated people.