The Dutch health minister said temporary detention is a precautionary measure after five reports of blood clots with low blood platelet counts after vaccines.
The Netherlands has stopped administering vaccines against Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 until 7 April.
On Friday, the Dutch health ministry said it would temporarily stop inoculations for people under 60. But after talks on Saturday, health departments decided to suspend all AstraZeneca strikes to avoid waste.
Some 700 people over the age of 60 were due to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in the next few days, but their appointments were also temporarily canceled, as there were no guarantees that a full batch could be used completely if only a few people received it. punctures. .
The decision comes days after German authorities also stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine in the 1960s, alleging new concerns about unusual blood clots reported in a small number of people who received the shots.
On Friday earlier, a Dutch organization that monitors the side effects of vaccines said it had received five reports of blood clots with a low platelet count in the blood after vaccines. The DPA news agency reported that one person died.
All cases occurred between seven and ten days after vaccination and all affected people were women between 25 and 65 years old.
Research is underway to determine if these were caused by vaccination.
The vaccine control organization said that during the period in which the five cases were reported, some 400,000 people were vaccinated in the Netherlands with AstraZeneca shot.
Health Minister Hugo de Jonge says temporary stoppage is a precautionary measure.
“I think it’s very important that Dutch reports are also properly investigated,” de Jonge said. “We have to err on the side of caution.”
Saturday’s decision is another setback for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is key to Europe’s vaccination campaign and a key point in the global strategy to shoot the poorest countries, as it is cheaper and easier. to use that rival vaccines of Pfizer and Modern.
It comes two weeks after the European Union drug regulator said the vaccine does not increase the overall incidence of blood clots after a similar scare.
At the time, the European Medicines Agency said the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks, but could not rule out a link between the shot and some unusual types of clots and recommended adding a warning about possible rare side effects.
De Jonge said the Dutch break will come before the EU medicines agency on the AstraZeneca vaccine is updated next week.
Most EU countries, including Germany, resumed the AstraZeneca vaccine on 19 March.