Eight European countries halted the rollout of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, following a similar move by Denmark, as was reported by Reuters and BBC agencies.
Denmark, Norway and Iceland have temporarily suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Italy and Austria, meanwhile, have stopped using certain batches of the drug as a precautionary measure.
The suspensions in Italy and Austria involve different batches of the vaccine.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg have also suspended the use of the same batch as Austria. Romania has suspended the use of 4,200 doses from the same batch of vaccines as Italy.
Thus, Denmark said the decision was a "precautionary measure [taken] while a full investigation is ongoing into reports of blood clots in people who received the vaccine, including one case in Denmark where a person died".
Italy's medicines body said its decision was "precautionary", adding that no link had been established between the vaccine and subsequent "serious adverse events". Two Italians are reported to have died after receiving the vaccine, and an unnamed source told Reuters news agency that their deaths are what prompted the temporary suspension.
Austria, meanwhile, took its decision after a woman died 10 days after vaccination because of "severe blood coagulation problems". The Austrian doses were part of a batch of one million doses, identified as ABV5300, that was sent to 17 European countries.
Norway's public health institute said it would follow the Danish move to halt all use of the vaccine until the Danish cases were investigated. "We are waiting for more information to see if there is a link between the vaccine and this blood clot case," said Geir Bukholm of the National Institute of Health.
Iceland was also suspending the use of the vaccine, the chief epidemiologist told public broadcaster Ruv, to "err on the side of caution".
However, the European Medicines Agency stated “There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine”. It said there had been 30 cases of "thromboembolic events" among the five million Europeans who have received the jab. "The vaccine's benefits continue to outweigh its risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while the investigation of cases of thromboembolic events is ongoing," it added.
AstraZeneca said the drug's safety had been studied extensively in clinical trials. "Regulators have clear and stringent efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new medicine," a spokesperson said.