The Oxford-AstraZeneca covid vaccine.
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LONDON – Denmark announced on Thursday that it will temporarily suspend the use of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The Danish Health Authority said it would temporarily stop using the shot in its vaccination program as a precaution “following reports of serious cases of blood clots in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.”
“In this context, the European Medicines Agency has launched an investigation into the AstraZeneca vaccine. A report refers to a death in Denmark. At present, it cannot be concluded whether there is a link between the vaccine and the clots. of blood, “says Health. said the authority in a statement.
It did not specify how many reports of blood clots had occurred or where they had originated.
The announcement comes after a similar move in Austria earlier in the week, where authorities are investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after receiving doses of the vaccine.
Shares of AstraZeneca in the London market fell 2.4% on Thursday morning. Oxford University did not comment on the announcement when it was contacted by CNBC.
An AstraZeneca spokesman said the company was aware of the statement from the Danish health authority which is currently investigating possible vaccine-related adverse effects.
“Patient safety is AstraZeneca’s top priority. Regulators have clear and strict efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new drug, and this includes the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine. Vaccine safety has been extensively studied in phase III clinical trials, and peer-reviewed data confirm that the vaccine is generally well tolerated, “AstraZeneca said in a statement to CNBC.
Søren Brostrøm, Director of the National Board of Health in Denmark, asstated that the 14-day suspension was a precaution while the investigations were being conducted.
“It is important to stress that we did not opt for the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we put it on hold. There is good evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective. But both we and the Danish Medicines Agency must react to reports of possible side effects. serious side effects, both in Denmark and in other European countries, ”he said.
Austria worries
Austrian health authorities suspended the use of batch ABV5300 of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a person was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis (formation of blood clots in the blood vessels) and died 10 days after vaccination, and another was hospitalized. with pulmonary embolism after vaccination.
“The latter is recovering now,” the European Medicines Agency said on Wednesday.
However, the EMA added that “there are currently no indications that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.”
The EMA noted that the same batch ABV5300 was delivered to 17 EU countries and comprises 1 million doses of the vaccine.
“Some EU countries have also subsequently suspended this batch as a precautionary measure, while a full investigation is ongoing. Although a quality defect is considered unlikely at this stage, the quality of the batch is being investigated,” he said. say the EMA.
He added that his safety committee was reviewing the problem and “investigating cases reported with the batch, as well as all other cases of thromboembolic events and other conditions related to blood clots, reported after vaccination.”
“The information available so far indicates that the number of thromboembolic events in vaccinated individuals is not higher than seen in the general population.”
As of March 9, “22 cases of thromboembolic events had been reported among the 3 million people vaccinated with the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine in the European Economic Area,” the EMA said.
Dependence on the United Kingdom and the EU
Final-stage clinical trials showed that the AstraZeneca-Oxford trait had an average efficacy of 70% in protection against the virus. A more recent study by Oxford researchers found that the Covid vaccine was 76% effective in preventing symptomatic infection for three months after a single dose and that the rate of effectiveness actually increased with a longer interval. long between the first and second dose.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine relies heavily on vaccination launches in the UK and the European Union.
To date, the UK has vaccinated more than 22 million people with a first dose of coronavirus vaccine and currently only uses the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech feature.