"This is not within the competence of the EMA so I can only speak from a personal perspective, where I really believe we need to ensure access, availability and access throughout the world, not just in the countries that have the means to pay for them," EMA Executive Director Emer Cooke said in an interview.
The regulator said its safety committee "concluded that a warning about unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be added to the product information" for the J&J shot.
That desire was on display in EU member Slovakia on Monday, where shops, museums, libraries and swimming pools reopened after a lengthy lockdown, bringing big crowds onto the streets.
In late March, the companies filed an application to US regulators for emergency use authorization of VIR-7831 to treat early-stage COVID-19 infections.
The United States has already recommended similar therapies from Eli Lilly and Co and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc .
Spain introduced the restriction on Wednesday after the European Medicines Agency reported a link between the shots and a rare form of brain blood clots affecting roughly one in every 100,000 people under 60 vaccinated.
As of Thursday night, only around 45% of people had confirmed their vaccine appointments for Friday, he added.
Four serious cases of rare blood clots with low platelets, one of which was fatal, have been reported after inoculation with J&J's vaccine from its Janssen unit, the European Medicines Agency said, adding five cases of capillary leak syndrome linked to AstraZeneca's vaccine were reported.
The Philippines has so far received 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccines, about a fifth of the country's total inventory, through the COVAX facility.
His comments came as the European Medicines Agency and Britain's medical regulator acknowledged a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine to very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelets, with most cases reported in women under 60 years of age within two weeks of vaccination.
Conservative leader Kurz is under fire from opposition parties because his government did not buy as many coronavirus vaccines as it could have under the European Union's collective purchasing scheme.
"There must be no geopolitical blinkers regarding vaccines," Kurz said in a statement issued by his office, adding that Austria is in talks with Russia and Moscow has offered to sell it a million doses as of April. "The only thing that must count is whether the vaccine is effective and safe."
The vaccine is of great use for the elderly, among whom many fall seriously ill each day.
"At the same time, we haven't seen these rare and serious side effects among our elderly. That is the background to why we are lifting the suspension for people older than 65."
We are well on track in order to get the approval by EMA (European Medicines Agency) in the course of March, beginning of April, and this is exactly according to our plan.
After falling far behind post-Brexit Britain and the United States in rolling out vaccines, the EU's leaders are set to discuss imposing a ban on vaccine exports to Britain at a summit on Thursday.