The European Union’s medicine regulator has concluded that unusual blood clots should be listed as a “very rare side effect” of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. 

The European Medicines Agency(EMA) announced the result of its review on a possible link between the vaccine and around 170 cases of blood clots in the brain following AstraZeneca vaccination. 

However, the EU regulator advised continuing inoculation with the AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups, saying its benefits still outweigh the risk. 

U.K. authorities, which reported nearly 80 cases of the rare blood clots, took a more cautious approach and recommended that those aged under 30 in the country be given other COVID-19 vaccines. 

The World Health Organization's vaccine safety panel also said on Wednesday that although the link between the vaccine and blood clots was "plausible" it was "not confirmed," stressing the cases were "very rare" among 200 million people who have received the AstraZeneca shots around the world.