AstraZeneca has defended its coronavirus vaccine after a US agency raised concerns about trial results that showed the shot to be 79 percent effective in preventing Covid-19.
AstraZeneca had published results from its US trials on Monday, but US National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases said the results were outdated.
The AstraZeneca vaccine had been praised as a potential game-changer in the fight against the pandemic, as it was more affordable and easier to store and transport.
But public confidence in the drug has dipped after over a dozen countries temporarily suspended its rollout because of isolated cases of blood clots.
AstraZeneca has also struggled for months with production and supply chains, delivering only 30 percent of the doses promised the European Union for the first quarter.
The already stumbling vaccination programmes in Hong Kong and Macau also ran into trouble on Wednesday, as authorities temporarily stopped giving Pfizer-BioNTech shots over concerns about the packaging of vials.
Health officials did not explain what exactly was wrong with them, but insisted there were no safety issues.
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