Denmark, Norway and Iceland halted the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Thursday after some people who received it developed blood clots.
The moves came as six other European nations stopped using certain batches of the vaccine while health officials investigated the concerns.
The European Union’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said there is “no indication” that the British drugmaker’s jab caused the clots, adding that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh the risks.
The Danish Health and Medicines Authority halted the rollout of AstraZeneca’s jab for at least two weeks following “severe cases” of blood clots in vaccinated people, one of which was related to a death.
Danish officials say they need to take time to probe those incidents even though there’s good evidence the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective. Magnus Heunicke, Denmark’s health minister, said it is not yet clear whether there’s a link between the shot and the blood clots.
“Right now we need all the vaccines we can get. Therefore, putting one of the vaccines on pause is not an easy decision,” Søren Brostrøm, director of Denmark’s National Board of Health, said in a statement. “But precisely because we vaccinate so many, we also need to respond with timely care when there is knowledge of possible serious side effects.”
The cases in Denmark prompted the Norwegian Institute of Public Health to halt AstraZeneca vaccinations as a precautionary measure. Iceland also suspended the shots while awaiting the results of an investigation by EU health officials.
The moves came after five EU nations — Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg — stopped using doses from a single batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine this week over blood clot concerns.
Three people in Austria have developed blood clots after getting the jab, including one who died 10 days after vaccination, according to the European Medicines Agency.
A fourth patient developed a pulmonary embolism, a condition in which a blockage forms in the lungs’ arteries, officials said.
EU officials are investigating the quality of the affected batch — which includes about 1 million doses delivered to 17 nations — even though “a quality defect is considered unlikely at this stage,” the agency said.
In all, 30 cases of blood clots had been reported as of Tuesday among the nearly 5 million people who had received AstraZeneca’s vaccine in the 29-nation European Economic Area, officials said.
“The number of thromboembolic events in vaccinated people is no higher than the number seen in the general population,” the agency said in a Thursday statement.
Also on Thursday, Italy stopped using a different batch of AstraZeneca’s vaccine following the deaths of two men in Sicily who had received the shot.
An AstraZeneca spokesperson noted that the vaccine’s safety has been “extensively studied” in clinical trials and peer-reviewed data have confirmed the shot is “generally well tolerated.”
“Patient safety is the highest priority for AstraZeneca,” the company spokesperson said in a statement. “Regulators have clear and stringent efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new medicine, and that includes COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca.”
With Post Wires