Denmark halts vaccination with AstraZeneca due to possible …

The health authorities have, due to precautionary measures, suspended vaccination with AstraZeneca following a signal of a possible serious side effect in the form of fatal blood clots. It is currently not possible to conclude whether there is a connection. We act early, it needs to be thoroughly investigated #COVID19dk

– Magnus Heunicke (@Heunicke) March 11, 2021

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‘We are in the middle of the largest and most important vaccination campaign in the history of Denmark. In addition, we need all the vaccines we can get hold of. Therefore, it is not self-evident to decide to pause vaccination. But just because we vaccinate so many people, it is also important to react quickly when there are potentially serious side effects, ‘says Søren Brostrøm, director of Sundhedsstyrelsen, the Danish Health Institute, stressing that no causal link has yet been found.

Brostrøm underlines that the vaccination campaign with AstraZeneca will not be canceled, but will be temporarily paused. “There is sufficient evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective,” said the CEO, “but both we and the drug institute are forced to respond to reports of potentially serious side effects, both in Denmark and in other European countries,” he said.

The decision does affect the planned end date of the Danish vaccination campaign. This has been postponed by four weeks to 15 August.

Austria

The Austrian health authorities have also partially stopped the use of Astra-Zeneca vaccines. The decision was made after two vaccinated people fell ill, in which a 49-year-old woman died and a 35-year-old person was hospitalized for pulmonary embolism. Both persons would have received their vaccine from the same lot, according to the health authorities. That full charge has since been blocked. The EMA said on Wednesday that there is currently not enough evidence to link any side effects that have been developed to the vaccine.

Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia have also suspended the use of AstraZeneca.

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