Denmark, Norway, and Iceland have today announced the suspension of the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine when an emergency of blood clotting was reported amongst those who were injected with the vaccine, though the manufacturer insists their drug was ok.
Denmark was the first country to identify the problem when cases of blood clots were identified amongst those who received the jabs, according to the country’s Health Authority.
The health authorities reported that the reason for the suspension was a precautionary measure to give them room to establish a link between the jab and the blood-clots.
According to the European Medicine Agency, as of March 9, 2021, about 22 persons were reported to have presented with blood-clot amongst the 3million people vaccinated in the European Economic Area (EMA).
Austria had on Monday announced that it has suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine following a death of a 49-years old nurse who died of “severe blood coagulation problems” few days after he was injected with the vaccine jab.
In a similar manner, four other European countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Luxemburg have also suspended the use of the vaccine from the current batch of one million doses which was sent to the 17 European countries.
However, Denmark has suspended the use of all Astrazenca supply; this was followed by Denmark and Norway for a similar reason today.
Yesterday, the EMA claimed that the death of the woman reported may not have a connection with the vaccine but did not say anything about the 22 persons with similar problems.
A professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine described the new report as the ‘Super cautious approach’.
He said, “The risk and benefit balance is still very much in favor of the vaccine,”
However, the company, which developed the vaccine, maintained that its drug is safe.
The spokesman of the company while speaking to AFP said, “The safety of the vaccine has been extensively studied in phase III clinical trials and peer-reviewed data confirms the vaccine has been generally well-tolerated,”
Meanwhile, the Danish suspension, which will be reviewed after two weeks, is expected to slow down the country’s vaccination campaign.
The country revealed it has shifted its targeted timeframe for vaccinating it citizen from earlier planned July to August.
The prime minister, Mette Frederiksen said “We are of course saddened by this news,”
She further defended the Danish health authorities’ decision because she has pushed for the production of more vaccines and has formed a controversial alliance with Austria and Israel to do so.
Frederiksen told reporters that “There is always a risk associated with vaccines,”
She admitted that “Things have gone well in Denmark, but there are some risks linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine that needs to be examined more closely. That seems to me to be the right way to proceed.”.
Meanwhile, Soren Brostrom, a Director of Danish Health Authority stated that “we have not terminated the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, we are just pausing its use”.
He too insisted that “There is broad documentation proving that the vaccine is both safe and efficient,”
However, said that his country and the Danish Medicine Agency must act on information about possible serious side effects, both in Denmark and in other European countries.”
The EMA has launched an investigation into the death of one person that died in Denmark.
In the Scandinavian country of 5.8 million, around 25 percent of those who have received the first dose were given the AstraZeneca jab.
