After reports of blood clots in people vaccinated using Oxford-AstraZeneca surfaced, European countries - Denmark, Norway, Austria, Italy and Iceland have suspended the use of the vaccine.
According to reports, the European Medicines Agency is now launching an investigation but at present there is no firm evidence to suggest the two are linked and incidents of clotting have not been reported in the UK. While Denmark, Norway and Iceland have halted the use of the vaccine, Italy and Austria have stopped using only a certain batch of AstraZeneca.
“The Danish Health and Medicines Authority said the rollout out of the jab would be paused for at least 14 days while investigations are carried out,” Sky News reported.
Danish health minister Magnus Heunicke tweeted and said, "It is currently not possible to conclude whether there is a link. We are acting early, it needs to be thoroughly investigated.”
Director of the National Board of Health, Søren Brostrøm, added: "It is important to emphasise that we have not opted out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we are putting it on hold."There is good evidence that the vaccine is both safe and effective."
Sky News further reported, “The first person developed multiple thrombosis (formation of blood clots within blood vessels) and died 10 days after vaccination, while another was hospitalised with pulmonary embolism (blockage in arteries in the lungs) but is now recovering. Two further cases linked to the batch were also reported. The affected batch of one million doses was delivered to 17 EU countries, the Austrian national competent authority said.”
An AstraZeneca spokesperson reportedly said "Patient safety is the highest priority for AstraZeneca. Regulators have clear and stringent efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new medicine, and that includes Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca.
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."
Oxford University hasn’t commented on the reports.
World Health Organization spokeswoman said AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine should continue to be used, The Spectator Index reported on Friday evening.
In response to this, the UK government released an online statement and said that this is a precautionary measure by the Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic authorities. It has not been confirmed that the report of a blood clot was caused by the AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine. People should still go and get their Covid-19-19 vaccine when asked to do so.
Dr Phil Bryan, MHRA Vaccines Safety Lead said, “Vaccine safety is of paramount importance and we continually monitor the safety of vaccines to ensure that the benefits outweigh any potential risks.It has not been confirmed that the report of a blood clot, in Denmark, was caused by the Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. The Danish, Norwegian and and Icelandic authorities’ action to temporarily suspend use of the vaccine is precautionary whilst they investigate. Blood clots can occur naturally and are not uncommon. More than 11 million doses of the Covid-19Vaccine AstraZeneca vaccine have now been administered across the UK. Reports of blood clots received so far are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population. The safety of the public will always come first. We are keeping this issue under close review but available evidence does not confirm that the vaccine is the cause. People should still go and get their Covid-19 vaccine when asked to do so.
