In Belgium, a woman under the age of 40 died after being vaccinated with the J&J vaccine. Her vaccination was arranged by her employer outside Belgium. She is the only death identified after being vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson.
The woman died Friday after being hospitalized with severe thrombosis and a platelet deficiency.
The vaccine will be reserved for people aged 41 and over until further guidance from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the J&J vaccine.
The Belgian decision describes the precautionary measures taken by European Union (EU) countries against Covid-19 vaccines, in particular J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines using adenovirus vector technology.
Fatalities have been reported worldwide in the development of abnormal thrombi with low platelet counts in humans following vaccination with these vaccines.
The ESA continues to evaluate the safety of all four Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in the EU, including those developed by BioNTech and Pfizer and Moderna.
Last month, the ESA concluded that there was a link between blood clots and AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines, but emphasized that the benefits and benefits of the vaccines far outweighed the risks.
The ESA still recommends the use of these vaccines in all age groups. However, several EU countries have restricted the use of AstraZeneca to people over 55 or over 60 years of age. Austria plans to stop using the vaccine in June. Denmark, on the other hand, has completely abandoned the J&J vaccine.
Norway, which has renounced the AstraZeneca vaccine, offers the J&J vaccine only to volunteers.
J&J only started supplying its vaccine to Europe in the second quarter of this year, accounting for just over 10% of all Covid-19 vaccine doses in the EU, according to data released by the European Commission (EC) this week.
Belgium has so far received approximately 40,000 doses of J&J vaccine, 80% of which has been administered to people 45 years of age and older.
