The move comes “following reports of serious cases of blood clots among people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine,” the Danish health authority said in a statement.
But he cautioned that “it has not been established at this time that there is a link between the vaccine and blood clots.”
Austria announced on Monday that it had suspended the use of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines after a 49-year-old nurse died of “severe blood clotting problems” a few days after receiving an anti-Covid shot.
Four other European countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg – have also suspended the use of vaccines in this batch, which has been sent to 17 European countries and consists of one million shots.
However, Denmark has suspended the use of all its AstraZeneca deliveries.
“Use is not discontinued, but use of the AstraZeneca vaccine is discontinued”
“It is important to emphasize that we have not finished using the AstraZeneca vaccine, we are just discontinuing its use,” said Danish Health Authority Director Soren Brostrom in a statement.
Denmark said one person died after receiving the vaccine. The EMA has launched an investigation into that death.
“There is extensive documentation that the vaccine is both safe and effective. But both we and the Danish Medicines Agency need to act on information about possible serious side effects, both in Denmark and in other European countries.” , said Brostrom.
The suspension, which will be reviewed after two weeks, is expected to slow Denmark’s vaccination campaign.
Copenhagen now expects its entire adult population to be vaccinated by mid-August instead of early July, the health authority said.
Britain says AstraZeneca vaccine ‘safe and effective’
Meanwhile, the British government on Thursday defended the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after Denmark suspended the use of the jab and insisted it would continue with its own launch.
“We have been clear that it is both safe and effective … and when people are asked to come forward and take it, they should do so with confidence,” Prime Minister Boris’ spokesman told the spokesman. Johnson.
“And, in fact, you are starting to see the results of the vaccination program in terms of the (smaller) number of cases we see across the country, the number of deaths, the number of hospitalizations,” he said.
The United Kingdom began the world’s first mass vaccination decision against coronavirus in December, largely supported by the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and another by Pfizer-BioNTech.
On Wednesday, the EMA, Europe’s drug surveillance doctor, said a preliminary probe showed that the batch of AstraZeneca vaccines used in Austria was not likely to be to blame for the nurse’s death.
As of March 9, 22 cases of blood clots have been reported in more than three million people vaccinated in the European Economic Area, the EMA said.