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| - A handful of "troubling" cases of blood clots in France justify the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the government's top vaccination adviser said Tuesday, adding that he hoped all doubts about its safety would soon be removed. Alain Fischer, an immunologist who heads the government's vaccination advisory board, said a "very small" number of reports of pulmonary embolism -- blood clots in the lungs -- had caused alarm at the weekend. "It's the fact that there were a few very unusual and troubling cases which justify this pause and the analysis," Fischer told France Inter radio, adding that until the weekend there had been no more thrombosis or clotting cases than are typically observed. "It's not lost time," he said of the suspension. "It's necessary time to carry out analysis." President Emmanuel Macron announced the suspension Monday as France followed the example of a host of other European countries in stopping using the vaccine while regulators assess its safety. Media reports said the French government's U-turn, after days of insisting the vaccine was safe, was influenced by Germany's unexpected decision to pause use of the vaccine earlier on Monday. "We are in a situation where there is a rational scientific doubt," Fischer said. "I hope that this doubt will be lifted by colleagues who are working on this issue... afterwards, obviously we will need to resume our work of teaching and explaining, which will not be easy, I'm aware of that." Annie-Pierre Jonville-Bera, the head of the French agency that monitors complaints about medical products, said Monday that France had seen a single case of blood clotting, or thrombosis. The suspension was "entirely legitimate" and does "not cast doubt on the continuation of the vaccination programme", Jonville-Bera, who heads the Regional Centres of Pharmavigilance, told Franceinfo. Perceptions that the AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective than rivals from Pfizer and Moderna and has more signficant side-effects, such as mild flu symptoms, meant that uptake of the jab had already been slow in France. After a row about late deliveries, the health ministry revealed at the beginning of March that three in four AstraZeneca jabs had gone unused. France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune said the EU did not exclude taking legal action against the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company over its smaller-than-expected deliveries. "There are worries and, more than that, in all probability some cheating on the side," he told Radio Classique, adding that Europe will not "give out money and expect nothing in return". "We'll defend our interests," he said. "There might be legal action. We can't exclude it." Experts at the World Health Organization and European regulators are to meet Tuesday to assess the vaccine's safety, with AstraZeneca and the British government insisting that the reports of blood clots should not be linked to the vaccine. Some French experts have condemned the decision to suspend use of the vaccine, saying the risk of blood clots is likely to be much lower than the risks associated with Covid-19, which has killed around 80,000 people in France alone. The AstraZeneca-Oxford shot is much cheaper than rivals and can be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures. "Transparency is the first step in creating confidence. We're in a situation where everything that is known is said, and all the doubts are raised," Fischer told France Inter. adp/js/txw
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