'Europe's cascade of bad decisions over AstraZeneca jab'

European countries pausing use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab were risking the lives of their citizens and "throwing caution to the wind", Dr Anthony Cox, who researches drug safety at the University of Birmingham has said.

He told BBC World News: "What we seem to have had is like a cascade of bad decision making that's spread across Europe after a couple of countries have decided to carry out this pause in vaccination."

Pausing use of the jab was slowing the vaccination process down and damaging confidence in the vaccine in countries where cases were on the rise, Dr Cox said.

Use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been paused in a number of European countries after blood clots were reported in a small number of people who had recently had the jab.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said there was "no indication" the vaccine causes blood clots. The World Health Organization has urged countries not to halt vaccinations.

AstraZeneca has said there is no evidence of an increased risk of clotting due to the vaccine.