Denmark will suspend the definitive form of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID, health authorities reported on Wednesday. It is him the first country to leave completely the medicine created by the pharmacist and the University of Oxford.
Despite the views of the European regulatory authority and the WHO in favor of its use, the “vaccination campaign in Denmark continues without the AstraZeneca vaccine“said the director of the National Health Agency, Søren Brostrøm, at a press conference.
This determination comes after Copenhagen decided to discontinue its use for five weeks, following the occurrence of unusual cases of thrombosis in several European countries. The three-week period decreed at the end of March for ccontinue with unusual case studies.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has stated that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks. Photo: AP
Tanja Erichsen, a senior official at the Danish Medicines Agency, said that authorities “agree” together with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that the vaccine is “effective”, but reiterated that, due to the epidemiological situation in Denmark, it is “better” not to use the vaccine.
About 150,000 people who received a dose of that vaccine will receive another dose for the second dose, according to authorities.
The suspension of AstraZeneca, of which Denmark bought 2.4 million doses, will cause a delay of several weeks in the vaccination program from this northern country, which intended to have the entire population immunized at the end of July.
Denmark was the first to suspend vaccination with AstraZeneca on March 11, a decision that was later followed by most European countries, although they resumed the process when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) assured that there is no evidence of a direct relationship with detected cases of thrombosis.
However, some countries have reserved its use for people over the age of 60, such as Germany and Sweden, while Norway will announce in a few days what decision it will take on the vaccine, which has also been suspended for a month.
In its previous appearance on March 25, the Danish Medicines Agency claimed that extension of the suspension due to the need to complete the study of several unusual cases, although he defended the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
Denmark has recorded a death with this clinical picture, which includes a low platelet count, blood clots and bleeding; and several cases of deaths with similar symptoms that had not yet been analyzed in late March.
With information from EFE