The suspensions follow reports that some people developed blood clots after receiving the shot, but the WHO says there is no proven link and urges people not to panic.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain have suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after several reports of blood clots in people who were shot in Europe.
Monday’s rain of suspensions came after several countries, mostly European, stopped implementing them late last week.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has supported the use of the vaccine and said it has seen no evidence that the shot caused coagulation in some people who received it.
The UN health agency is reviewing reports related to the shootings and urged countries not to suspend vaccines, as its top scientist said people should not panic.
EU members stop firing
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said the country had suspended the use of the shot on the advice of national vaccine regulator Paul Ehrlich Institute.
The institute had called for additional investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had received the vaccine.
“Today’s decision is a purely preventive measure,” Spahn said.
France and Italy announced similar moves soon after.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the use of the AstraZeneca shot would be suspended as a precautionary measure until at least Tuesday afternoon when the European Union’s drug regulator (European Medicines Agency (EMA)) will issue the your recommendation on the vaccine.
Macron did not delve into the reasoning of the decision, but said at a press conference that he hoped France could be vaccinated with AstraZeneca shots “soon.”
Meanwhile, the Italian drug authority, AIFA, said it was implementing its own suspension as a “precautionary and temporary measure” pending EMA resolutions.
The announcement followed the confiscation of hundreds of thousands of doses of the vaccine by Italian prosecutors in the northern region of Piedmont, where a professor died after being vaccinated.
Experts are investigating whether there is a connection between his death and vaccination.
On Monday afternoon, Spanish Health Minister Carolina Darias said the country had suspended the use of the vaccine for two weeks as a “precaution”.
He said the decision will be maintained until the EMA “analyzes the recent incidences of blood clots, especially over the weekend.”
AstraZeneca said there was no cause for concern about its vaccine, which is being co-produced with Oxford University in the UK, and that there were fewer cases of thrombosis in those who received the vaccine than in the general population. .
Peter Drobac of Oxford University told Al Jazeera that the AstraZeneca vaccine went through “rigorous clinical trials” and that blood clots were not identified as a problem.
“The safety break, I think, is certainly the prerogative of the regulators of these countries. However, we have learned from the World Health Organization, the European Medicines Agency and others, that at this time the benefits of vaccination clearly outweigh the risks, ”Drobac said.
The WHO urges calm
The EMA and the WHO have also said that the available data do not suggest that the vaccine caused clots and that people should continue to be immunized with the shot.
The WHO on Monday called on countries not to suspend vaccines against a disease that has caused more than 2.7 million deaths worldwide. The top scientist at the UN health agency reiterated that there have been no documented deaths related to COVID-19 vaccines.
“We don’t want people to panic,” said Soumya Swaminathan, who added that there has so far been no association between the so-called “thromboembolic events” reported in some countries and the traits of COVID-19.
It seems that the reassurances have done little to calm doubts, as several countries have temporarily stopped the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days.
Denmark, Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Bulgaria were among those who suspended the use of the shot.