(GNB Desk): Major European states have paused the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over fears the shot may have caused some recipients to develop blood clots.
Germany, France and Italy – suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine on Monday pending the outcome of an investigation by the bloc’s medicines regulator into isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts.
So far, 13 countries in the European Union have taken this decision, while a few others have stopped using individual batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Sweden and Latvia on Tuesday became the latest nations to halt the rollout, following moves by Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, and The Netherlands, among others.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, made in conjunction with the University of Oxford, is not authorized in the United States. It is used widely in Europe.
Europe’s health regulator has 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.”
In a statement Monday, the European Medicines Agency said it “will further review the information” and called an extraordinary meeting on the issue for Thursday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting on Tuesday to review the available safety data on the vaccine, although it has repeatedly expressed confidence in its safety in recent days; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said there was no evidence of a link so far.
In addition, the World Health Organization has urged nations to continue their vaccination campaigns with the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford vaccines.
“The Australian Government remains confident in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and there is currently no evidence that it causes blood clots”, Australian Health Department said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are aware of some further European countries pausing the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to reports of blood clots in people who have been vaccinated. While the European Medicines Agency is investigating these events, it has reinforced its view that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is successful in protecting against COVID-19, and should continue to be used in the rollout”, the statement read.
On Sunday, pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca released a statement reassuring the safety of the jab and said the number of blood clots reported “is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar across other licensed COVID-19 vaccines.”
“Furthermore, in clinical trials, even though the number of thrombotic events was small, these were lower in the vaccinated group. There has also been no evidence of increased bleeding in over 60,000 participants enrolled,” AstraZeneca said.
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