LONDON: AstraZeneca said on Friday it was working with Dutch authorities to address any questions they had after the Netherlands temporarily suspended use of its COVID-19 vaccine for people under 60 following the death of a woman who had received a shot.

"Regulatory authorities in the UK, European Union, the World Health Organization have concluded that the benefits of using our vaccine to protect people from this deadly virus significantly outweigh the risks across all adult age groups," a spokesman for AstraZeneca said in a statement.

"Tens of millions of people have now received our vaccine across the globe. The extensive body of data from two large clinical datasets and real-world evidence demonstrate its effectiveness, reaffirming the role the vaccine can play during this public health crisis."