Several EU nations halt AstraZeneca vaccine rollout over blood clot fears
Several nations in Europe have suspended the use of the Coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford University over blood clot concerns, despite a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) saying there was no indication the clotting events were caused by the vaccine.
Early on Monday, Germany, France, Italy and Spain had suspended their rollout of the jab and Portugal, Luxembourg and Slovenia followed later in the day, while Latvia and Sweden followed suit on Tuesday morning.
“After new reports of thromboses of the cerebral veins in connection with the vaccination in Germany and Europe, the [Paul Ehrlich Institute] PEI considers further investigations to be necessary,” said Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn, who described the decision as “a purely precautionary measure.”
The move by 13 countries across the bloc to halt the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University jab, had Europe’s medicines watchdog, namely the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issuing a statement on Monday defending the vaccine rollout and announcing an extraordinary meeting on Thursday to assess all information gathered.
“The number of thromboembolic events overall in vaccinated people seems not to be higher than that seen in the general population,” EMA said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The head of the Amsterdam-based company, Emer Cooke insisted that the “benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects”.
Speaking to a press conference, EMA’s Executive Director, d company voiced her concerns over the vaccine rollout suspensions, arguing that they could have “an effect on the trust of the vaccines … but our job is to make sure the products we authorize are safe.”
