<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/6062e61967187800184ad390-2400/GettyImages-1230950708.jpg" border="0" alt="Draghi" data-mce-source="Roberto Monaldo/AM POOL/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Designated Prime Minister Mario Draghi speaks to media after having accepted from Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the mandate to form a new Government, following the resignation of Giuseppe Conte, on February 03, 2021 in Rome, Italy." data-link="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/designated-prime-minister-mario-draghi-speaks-to-media-news-photo/1230950708'adppopup=true"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Italy's prime minister and his wife were vaccinated with AstraZeneca's jab on Tuesday after politics across the region led some Europeans to reject the shot.</p><p>Mario Draghi and his wife, Maria Serenella Cappello, were given the shot in line with the country's vaccination rollout as they are both aged 73, <a href="https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2021/03/30/news/mario_draghi_vaccinato_con_astrazeneca-294355765/'ref=RHTP-BH-I0-P1-S2-T1">Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reported</a>.</p><p>Their vaccination comes after Italy was one of the European countries to temporarily suspend the use of the AstraZeneca shot earlier this month over possible side effects.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrazeneca-insists-vaccine-is-safe-after-7-countries-suspend-use-2021-3">Other countries</a> like Germany, France, and Denmark temporarily stopped using the vaccine after investigations into blood clots as a potential side effects were opened, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrazeneca-vaccine-suspended-blood-clots-ema-investigation-safe-lift-suspensions-2021-3">inoculations resumed</a> after the European medicines regulator looked at the vaccine again and said it was "safe and effective."</p><p>The European Medicines Agency said that the vaccine is not linked to an "overall risk" of blood clots.</p><p>The director general of Italy's medicines authority, AIFA, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-astrazeneca-idUSKBN2B80KK">had called the decision</a> to suspend the vaccine's use "political" and said that the vaccine was safe.</p><p>But the temporary suspension and blood-clot investigations <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-astrazeneca-covid-19-jab-became-least-favored-in-europe-2021-3">led to some Europeans turning down the AstraZeneca vaccine</a>.</p><p>European leaders are now trying to repair that damage and express their confidence in the shot.</p><p>Draghi announced that he would be getting the AstraZeneca shot at a press conference on March 19, according to La Repubblica.</p><p>Italy has been one of the countries worst-hit by the virus, and was the first European country to be devastated by it.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/italy-pm-mario-draghi-gets-astrazeneca-vaccine-europe-distrust-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pikes-peak-hill-climb-colorado-most-dangerous-racetrack-2020-2">Why Pikes Peak is the most dangerous racetrack in America</a></p>
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