A European Medicines Agency (EMA) official said that there is a ‘link’ between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and blood clots.

The AstraZeneca jab has been under scrutiny for months following reports that it may have been linked to the formation of blood clots in some recipients.

Those reports led to a temporary pause in the use of the jabs in Ireland, but the vaccine is now back on stream.

The decision to continue to use the vaccine despite an investigation to determine whether it did cause blood clots, came following advice from the EMA that the positives of the vaccine outweigh the negatives.

There had already been a restriction on the use of the AstraZeneca jab for people over the age of 70, but the National Immunisation Advisory Council since said that the vaccine could be used for patients above that age.

There have since been reports that the use of the vaccine could be restricted for younger recipients based off EMA research.

The EMA confirmed at the end of March that it was continuing to investigate whether the vaccine was linked to blood clots.

Its head of vaccines, Marco Cavaleri, has now told Italy’s Il Messaggero newspaper that the EMA will announce that there is a link soon.

He said that they are still trying to establish how the vaccine is causing the blood clots.

Mr Cavaleri said: ‘In my opinion, we can say it now, it is clear there is a link with the vaccine. But we still do not know what causes this reaction.

‘We are trying to get a precise picture of what is happening, to define in detail this syndrome due to the vaccine.

‘Among the vaccinated, there are more cases of cerebral thrombosis … among young people than we would expect.’