Copenhagen – Denmark announced on Tuesday that it would stop using the COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford-AstraZeneca University altogether, becoming the first European country to do so on suspicion of rare but serious side effects. Despite the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Surveillance Dog to continue using inoculation“Denmark’s vaccination campaign will continue without the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Health Authority Director Soren Brostrom told a news conference.
Denmark was the first country in Europe to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca puncture in its deployment of vaccinations after reporting rare but severe cases of blood clots among those who had received the vaccine.
More than a dozen countries followed suit, but all but a few have resumed use of the vaccine after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) emphasized the benefits of the vaccine and considered it “safe and effective”. ”.
However, Denmark had continued to hold the vaccine while doing its own research. In Denmark, two cases of thrombosis, one of which was fatal, were linked to vaccinations after more than 140,000 people received the blow produced by the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company.
In the country of 5.8 million people, 8% have been completely vaccinated against COVID-19 and 17% have received a first dose.
Since the use of the AstraZeneca jab was suspended in March, Denmark has continued to fire Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.
AstraZeneca’s suspension delays the country’s ambitious vaccine deployment plans, but the health authority said in a statement that the availability of other vaccines combined with the currently controlled pandemic meant the inoculation campaign could continue. without her.
France: AstraZeneca for over 55s
The French government reaffirmed its confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday as an “essential tool” in the fight against COVID-19, hours after Denmark said it would stop using it.
French government spokesman Gabriel Attal also said the country would maintain its plan to give the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to those over 55, which was suspended this week in the US and South Africa for the same type of clots. of rare blood seen with the drug AstraZeneca.
France has already used the AstraZeneca shot in people over 55 and had planned to boost its campaign with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is similar to the AstraZeneca shot.
That plan appeared to be in jeopardy after Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it would delay the launch of the vaccine in Europe after the U.S. suspension. But Attal said the government had received a first delivery of 200,000 doses, which “arrived in our territory” earlier in the week and will be delivered to GPs and pharmacies. “
Her statements came when EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that the bloc was more dedicated to BioNTech / Pfizer to offset the suspended doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine and in the long run.
His statements came as more and more EU countries limited the use of adenovirus-type vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson to the elderly, who have not yet been affected by the clotting problem.
United Kingdom: AstraZeneca for over 30s
Although many of its neighbors have hesitated for weeks over the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute at Oxford University, the British government does not hesitate.
The UK has advanced to most of the world, starting earlier and vaccinating more people against COVID-19 as a proportion of its population than almost any other country and far more than any other European nation.
The British vaccination program has been largely based on the AstraZeneca trait, along with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. The Moderna vaccine has also been approved in the UK, but is not yet available.
Of the more than 20 million people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK, brain or abdominal blood clots were seen in less than 80 people, of whom less than 20 died.
It has not been concluded that the vaccine has caused clotting, but the fact that many of the clotting incidents observed around the world have occurred in younger women led the government to issue a new direction last week. in order to offer people under 30 a different vaccine.
Nearly 32 million people in the UK have received at least one vaccine against COVID and about 5.5 million have been fully vaccinated.