Staff member handles AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines stored at the Vaccine Center of the Capital Region, Copenhagen, Denmark 11 February 2021. Ritzau Scanpix / Liselotte Sabroe via REUTERS
Denmark said on Thursday it had not yet decided what to do with the remnants of AstraZeneca (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccines after a senior World Health Organization figure suggested the Nordic country would share them with other nations.
This week, Denmark became the first country to stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine, while European officials are investigating reports of rare blood clots combined with low platelet counts in Europe and the United Kingdom. Read more
The decision has sparked debates in Denmark over what to do with vaccines.
Opposition parties say the authorities should continue to make the shot available to Danes who are willing to take it. The government has asked the health authorities to consider this option.
Denmark currently has just over 200,000 vaccines, but will receive another 3.5 million under previous agreements, the State Serum Institute told Reuters.
“The government has not yet decided what to do with the purchased AstraZeneca vaccines,” the Danish Ministry of Health said in an email to Reuters.
The Norwegian government said on Thursday it would take longer to assess whether to resume using the AstraZeneca vaccine or stop it altogether. Read more
The WHO, which along with the United Kingdom and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) continues to recommend AstraZeneca shooting on the grounds that the benefits outweigh the risks, has pushed countries not to stockpile vaccines they do not use.
World Bank President David Malpass on Thursday called on countries to contribute to the “excessive” dose of COVID-19 vaccines in low-income countries.
Most of the vaccines distributed worldwide, so far, have reached richer countries.
“I understand that the Danish Foreign Ministry is preparing or is already looking for options to share AstraZeneca vaccines with other countries,” WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge said on Thursday after talks with Danish Health Authority Director Soren Brostrom.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said her country would be happy to fire: “We still have fewer vaccines than people who want to be vaccinated. Lithuania has therefore expressed its readiness to take as many doses as possible. by Astra Zeneca, as Denmark is ready to divide “.
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