Germany to resume vaccination with AstraZeneca on Friday

Packages and a vial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine are presented for a pictures at a vaccination centre, temporarily set up in a hall of the fair, amid the coronavirus disease pandemic in Cologne, Germany, March 18, 2021. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will resume administering AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine on Friday morning, Health Minister Jens Spahn said, after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) stated earlier that its health benefits outweighed any risks it posed.

Spahn told a Thursday evening news conference that suspending the vaccine had been the right call given the importance of being transparent about the safety of medicines being distributed by the state.