Why have almost half EU countries restricted use of the Astrazeneca vaccine?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the rollout of Astrazeneca’s Covid vaccine for use in all age groups, after a slew of European countries slapped limitations on the jab’s distribution. WHO officials said a “preponderance of evidence weighed in favour of not constraining the vaccine for certain age groups”, and refused to recommend an upper age limit for the drug. But almost half of all EU countries have now applied age restrictions to the rollout of the Astrazeneca jab, despite it receiving official approval for all over-18s by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last month.