European countries – including Denmark, Norway, Austria, Italy and Iceland – have suspended use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab after reports of blood clots in vaccinated people. 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. Denmark, Norway and Iceland have suspended the rollout of the vaccine, while Italy and Austria have stopped using a certain batch as a precaution. 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. They did not say how many reports of blood clots there had been. “It is currently not possible to conclude whether there is a link. We are acting early, it needs to be thoroughly investigated,” Danish health minister Magnus Heunicke said on Twitter.
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The Irish National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommended on Sunday that the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University be stopped temporarily. Ireland’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn stated that the decision was made due to reports of increased risk of blood clots in people inoculated with the jab, and backed by the findings of the Norwegian Medicines Agency. He underlined that no direct link has been found between the thrombosis risk and the vaccine administration, but added that NIAC called for “the temporary deferral of the COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination programme” on “the precautionary principle.” Søren Brostrøm, director of the National Board of Health, added: “It is important to emphasise that we have not opted out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we are putting it on hold.