COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark became the first country to stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in connection with a potential but rare form of blood clot.
The decision will push for the scheduled completion of Denmark’s vaccination scheme in early August, starting July 25, health officials said.
But this new timeline suggests that it will start using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was delayed in Europe due to similar coagulation concerns and whose use has been suspended by Denmark. This blow comprises about a third of the total contracted supply in the country.
The results of investigations into AstraZeneca’s associated blood clots “showed real and serious side effects,” the head of the Danish health agency Soren Brostrom said in a news briefing.
Therefore, we chose to continue the vaccination program for all target groups without this vaccine. ”
Astrazeneca said he respects Denmark’s choice and will continue to provide data to inform future decisions.
“The implementation and launch of the vaccination program is a matter for each country to decide, depending on local conditions,” said the Anglo-Swedish company.
The European Union’s drug surveillance body said last week that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a blood clot.
He said the risk of dying from COVID-19 was much higher than the risk of mortality from rare side effects, but left it to individual states to make their own risk assessments and decide how to administer the vaccine. .
Many countries in Europe and elsewhere have resumed the use of photography, some limiting it to certain age groups, especially those over 50 or over 60 years old.
Brostrom said joint studies based on Danish and Norwegian health data estimated that one in 40,000 people vaccinated with AstraZeneca shot could expect to experience this serious complication, with nothing conclusive about age or gender.
He said that Denmark had come a long way in inoculating the elderly population with the highest risk of contracting a severe form of the virus.
Future target groups for vaccination presented a lower risk. “This must be weighed against the fact that we now have a known risk of serious adverse effects … with the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, even if the absolute risk is small.”
Denmark’s decision should only be seen in a Danish context and “I understand very well why other countries will use it,” he said.
Denmark was the first country to initially suspend any use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March for safety reasons.
Almost one million out of 5.8 million people in the country received the first blows, 77% receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 7.8% Moderna and 15.3% AstraZeneca.
Denmark is reducing restrictions after the daily COVID-19 infection rate slowed from a few thousand in December to 500-600.
Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Edited by Hugh Lawson, Toby Chopra and John Stonestreet