The Danish Directorate General of Health (SST) announced on Thursday the temporary suspension for 14 days of the AstraZeneca vaccine after registering “serious cases of thrombi” in people who had received it.
One of the cases is related to a death, health authorities explained in a statement, highlighting that it still cannot be concluded that there is a direct relationship between the vaccine and thrombi.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched an investigation in this regard, according to the Danish Directorate General for Health, which has applied “a principle of prudence” and will carry out a new assessment in the penultimate week of March.
“We are in the largest and most important vaccination campaign in the history of Denmark, we need all the vaccines we can get. That is why it is not an easy decision to suspend one. But we must react carefully when there is evidence of possible serious effects,” he said the director of the SST, Søren Brostrøm.
Brostrøm stressed that this is a pause and that there is “good documentation” that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective”, but that the Danish authorities are forced to react to information of possible effects “from Denmark and other European countries. “.
All appointments and invitations to request an appointment to receive this vaccine are suspended, and those who have already received the first dose will have to wait until further notice.
The measure involves changes in the vaccination plan, which will be delayed in the worst case for four weeks until August 15, the date on which it is expected that the entire population that so wishes will have been immunized.
“First of all it is important that when risks arise in relation to a vaccine, they are investigated. For this reason, I think it is correct to suspend the vaccination of AstraZeneca,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at a press conference.
Frederiksen was upset by the delay, but at the same time convinced that Denmark, one of the countries that is vaccinating the fastest against covid-19 in Europe and one of the least affected, can normalize the situation in a few months.
“I believe in a summer with an almost normalized Denmark. I dare say it, as long as the Danes continue to be tested and vaccinated,” said the prime minister.
– .
