For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.orgcnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });if(window.location.pathname.indexOf("656089") != -1){console.log("hedva connatix");document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";}After a number of European countries halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus over blood clot concerns, many in the region are worried about getting vaccinated, which will only spur more vaccine hesitancy in the Middle East.Omar, an Amman resident in his twenties, is one such example.“I was worried about getting the vaccine before the AstraZeneca vaccines were [temporarily] stopped, but now I am definitely not going to get it anytime soon,” he told The Media Line. “It was approved so quickly…who knows if it is really safe?”The European Medicines Agency, which is in charge of the approval process for the vaccine in the European Union, looked into the blood clot concerns after 13 member countries halted the use of the vaccine. It found that the vaccine is "not associated" with a higher risk of clots. Turkey was the most vaccine reluctant in the MENA region.Concern over the impact of the AstraZeneca vaccine is less of a concern in Israel, which uses the Pfizer vaccine “It’s pretty clear that these are totally different vaccines and I don’t think it will have a major impact on vaccination in Israel but theoretically, yes, people may be affected by concerns about COVID-19 vaccine,” Hagai Levine, associate professor of epidemiology at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health in Jerusalem, and chairman of the Israel Association of Public Health Physicians, told The Media Line.Dan Peretz of Haifa, who is set to get his first dose next week, has not been deterred by the events in Europe.“While I was initially concerned over how fast the vaccine was approved, I feel safe now,” he told The Media Line. “I would rather take this risk than take the risk of getting coronavirus.”Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers for the Middle East and North Africa as of 2:45 pm Greenwich Mean Time (UTC±0) on Thursday.Steven Ganot contributed to this report.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 19, 2021 15:11 UTC