Germany, France and Italy said yesterday they would hit pause on AstraZeneca shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects, throwing Europe's already struggling vaccination campaign into disarray
Multiple countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigators look into cases of blood clots among vaccinated people.
Germany, France and Italy said yesterday they would hit pause on AstraZeneca shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects, throwing Europe's already struggling vaccination campaign into disarray.
The Netherlands also suspended the use of the Covid-19 vaccine, after reports from Denmark and Norway about possible serious side effects.
The nation has seen 10 cases of noteworthy adverse side effects from AstraZeneca's vaccine, a Dutch drug watchdog said yesterday, hours after the government put its vaccination program on hold until March 29.
Ireland's health officials recommended suspending the use of the Covid-19 vaccine after reports of blood clotting and lower blood platelet counts in Norway and Denmark.
AstraZeneca said on Sunday that there was no evidence of increased risk of blood clots from its vaccine, after a review of safety data of people vaccinated with its vaccine.
The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Iceland have so far suspended the use of the vaccine after reports of cases of blood clots.
Italy and Romania have banned the use of a similar batch of the vaccine.
Austria has also stopped the usage of certain batches of the vaccine and Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Luxembourg have suspended the same batch which was suspended by Austria.
India will carry out a deeper review of post-vaccination side effects from the AstraZeneca although no cases of blood clots have been reported so far, an official told AFP on Saturday.
New Delhi decided to conduct the review after several countries suspended rollout over blood clot fears even as the World Health Organization said there was no reason to stop using AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab.
Meanwhile, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group says there is no link between the jab it developed with AstraZeneca and blood clotting.
At least 2,654,089 million people have died of coronavirus around the world since the outbreak began in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
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