Denmark has become the first country to permanently stop the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after its possible link with very rare cases of blood clots.
The Danish health authority said on Wednesday that, following its own review, the country’s vaccine deployment would continue without the shooting of AstraZeneca, as it warned of a “real risk of serious side effects”.
“According to the scientific findings, our overall assessment is that there is a real risk of serious side effects associated with the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine,” said DHA General Manager Søren Brostrøm. “Therefore, we have decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination program,” he added.
The health agency said it agreed with the EU regulator’s assessment that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks, but noted that the watchdog urged individual countries to consider their own situations and the availability of vaccines when pronouncing.
Brostrøm said the epidemic was currently under control in Denmark, with a large proportion of the largest population vaccinated and that it had not yet been inoculated with less risk.
“We need to weigh the fact that we now have a known risk of serious adverse effects from vaccination with AstraZeneca, even if the risk in absolute terms is mild,” he added.
Those who have already received the first dose of AstraZeneca AZN,
AZN,
will be invited to take a different vaccine a second time, the health authority said.
Read: Moderna and Novavax joined COVID-19 “mix and match” vaccine trial
He added that Denmark could reintroduce the use of the vaccine by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company at a later date if the situation in the country changes.
Last week, the UK government’s vaccination advisory committee said people under the age of 30 would be offered an alternative vaccine. It came after the UK drug regulator – the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) – said the benefits outweighed the risks for most people, but the MHRA executive director, Dr. June Raine said it was more “finely balanced” for young people.
Denmark’s move is another step back from the EU’s already slow vaccination campaign, which worsened on Tuesday after US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
said it would delay the planned launch of its COVID-19 feature through the 27-member bloc due to reports of blood clotting.
Read: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause: What you need to know if you have or have scheduled the shot?
J&J made the decision after U.S. health agencies called for an immediate pause in vaccine use while examining six serious cases of rare blood clots that have been reported in people who have received the shot. J&J was to supply the EU with 55 million doses of its single vaccine in the second quarter.
Currently, the J&J vaccine has only been delayed, but analyst company Airfinity warned that implementation of EU vaccination would take two months longer than planned if the bloc were not able to use the shot.
However, there was good news for Europe, as the EU reached an agreement to speed up the delivery of 50 million more doses of the vaccine jointly developed by German biotechnology BioNTech BNTX,
and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE,
to drive the launch program.
Denmark’s decision could delay the country’s vaccine launch by up to four weeks, according to previous statements by health agencies, according to a Reuters report.
The country was the first to initially suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, for safety reasons. Last week, the EU drug regulator said “unusual blood clots” should be listed as “very rare” side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but insisted that the benefits of the shot still outweigh the risks. .
Read: Vaccination problems in Europe continue, as Spain and Italy stop using AstraZeneca shot for children under 60
Most EU countries have restarted the AstraZeneca vaccine, but some countries, including Spain and Italy, have limited the use of the shot to people over 60. Last month, French and German health officials restricted the use of the AstraZeneca shot. for those over 55 and over 60, respectively, after concerns about unusual blood clotting in some receptors.
Shares of AstraZeneca traded up 1.31% higher in London on Wednesday.
AstraZeneca acknowledged the findings of the EMA, as well as a separate review of the UK MHRA, and noted that “they reaffirmed that the vaccine offers a high level of protection against all severities of COVID-19 and that these benefits continue to far outweigh the risks. “
The pharmaceutical company said it was working with global regulators to better understand individual cases, epidemiology and possible mechanisms that could explain these extremely rare events.