A leading Australian haematologist has poured cold water on the suggestion that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine might cause venous thrombosis.

This is despite moves by several European countries including Germany to suspend rollout of the adenovirus vector vaccine because of blood clot reports in some patients post-vaccination.

Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn said its decision was based on advice from the country’s medical advisory body, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which had identified seven cases of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) of whom three had died, after 1.6 million AstraZeneca vaccinations.

Among the cases, aged between 20 and 50 years, six were diagnosed with a rare form of CVT, sinus vein thrombosis, which is associated with thrombocytopenia and bleeding.