Which countries in Europe have suspended the Astrazeneca vaccine?
Fifteen countries across Europe have suspended the rollout of the Astrazeneca vaccine while the EU medicines regulators investigates reports of blood clots among patients.
Sweden yesterday joined a growing list of countries including Italy, Germany, France and Norway to issue a temporary ban on the jab.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said the pause was a “precautionary measure” until the European Medicines Agency (EMA) completes an investigation into reports of several blood clot-related deaths.
No such cases have been reported in Sweden but neighbouring Norway and Denmark have each reported one death.
A further three countries — Austria, Estonia and Lithuania — have suspended vaccinations using certain batches of the Astrazeneca drug.
There were early indications that scepticism regarding the Astrazeneca jab could soon spread to Asia after Thailand also suspended the rollout of the jab earlier this week.
Among 17m people who have received the vaccine in the EU and the UK, 15 cases of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism have been reported as of 8 March, Astrazeneca said in a statement on Monday.
But the EMA has insisted there is “no indication” that Astrazeneca’s Covid vaccine causes blood clots among patients, noting that the number of thromboembolic was the normal level among the general European population.
Emer Cooke, executive director of the EMA, said the agency remains “firmly convinced” that the benefits of the Astrazeneca vaccine outweigh the risk of side-effects.
“We know that many thousands of people develop thousands of clots annually for many different reasons”, she added.
The EMA is currently investigating the blood clot reports and will report its findings in a press conference tomorrow, where it is widely expected to reiterate its support for the Astrazeneca jab.
Italy and France this morning vowed to U-turn on their suspension of the Cambridge-based firm’s Covid vaccine if it gets the green light from the EMA tomorrow.
European countries have been accused of playing politics with the jab, after supply shortages slowed down the EU’s vaccine rollout.
Just 8.5 per cent of Europeans have received their first dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker.
That compares to 24.8m people who have received their first injection in the UK — equivalent to around 37 per cent of Britain’s population.
Nicola Magrini, head of Italy’s medicines agency, admitted this morning that the decision to suspend vaccinations was “a political one” that Rome had reached only “because several European countries, including Germany and France, preferred to interrupt”.