Spain will stop using the vaccine for two weeks, the country’s Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced on Monday in a national televised press conference.
It is a “temporary and preventive suspension”, she said, “until the risks can be assessed by the European Medicines Agency”.
After initially staying safe with the vaccine, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Monday that the country would discontinue vaccinations as a precaution, following reports of a handful of cases of blood clots in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca. Denmark and Norway.
France and Italy also stopped launching the vaccine on Monday, pending a review by the EU Medicines Regulatory Authority (EMA), although the body later reiterated its advice that countries comply with the launch.
“We have decided to suspend the use of AstraZeneca as a precautionary measure and hope to resume it soon if EMA’s advice allows,” French President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference on Monday.
The suspensions came hours after prosecutors in northern Italy ordered the seizure of a batch of vaccines, citing a man who became ill and died after being shot. The Italian Medicines Agency also suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine “as a precautionary and temporary measure” ahead of the EMA meeting, the Italian Medicines Agency AIFA announced on Monday.
Much of Europe has so far stopped shooting, following the fatality of a woman in Denmark who has not yet been vaccinated. Another death was reported in Norway on Monday, along with a handful of non-fatal cases in both countries.
The suspensions are against the advice of the World Health Organization, the EMA and the pharmaceutical giant itself, which said there was no evidence of a link to coagulation and that the launches should continue while the reports are investigated.
“As of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and cure severe virus disease,” the WHO said in a statement to CNN. The organization added that it was evaluating the latest reports, but said any changes to its recommendations would be “unlikely”.
The EMA also reiterated that countries should continue their launches, adding that it will meet on Thursday to discuss concerns, but that the benefits of vaccinations outweigh any potential risks.
“While its investigation is ongoing, the EMA remains of the view that the benefits of AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with the associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the agency said.
More than 11 million AstraZeneca jabs have been delivered to the UK, which is now one of the few major European countries that still support the vaccine. Spahn said he spoke with his British counterpart before stopping Germany’s launch.
AstraZeneca doubled down on the safety of its shootings on Sunday, saying a careful analysis of the 17 million people inoculated in the EU and the UK found again that there was “no evidence” of a clot connection.
It found that of these millions of people, there were 15 events of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 22 events of pulmonary embolism reported after vaccination; less than the number that would be expected to occur naturally within that size of the population.
However, the death of a woman in Denmark has led several countries to suspend their launch until reviews are made. The Danish Medicines Agency said on Monday that the woman in question had an “unusual” combination of symptoms before she died.
Later on Monday, the Norwegian hospital Rikshospitalet reported the death of another person inoculated with severe cases of blood clots, bleeding and low platelet counts.
In the Netherlands, a laboratory monitoring the use of pharmaceuticals said it had received reports of 10 cases of blood clots in people receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, but none showed the low platelet status observed in Norway and Denmark.
The UK has led a long way in administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, with more than 11 million people receiving a dose and also standing. Actual data from the country also showed that it has a significant impact in reducing Covid-19 hospitalizations.
Wave of infections in Europe
The continent’s latest concerns about the vaccine are coming at a difficult time, with a third wave of infections threatening to plague Europe a year after the pandemic began.
Citizens have been banned from traveling between regions since Monday and have been told the entire nation will be considered a “red zone” over the Easter weekend.
Restrictions mean that, again, many Italians cannot celebrate Easter with their families. “I am aware that today’s measures will have consequences for the education of children, for the economy and also for the psychological state of all,” Draghi acknowledged on Friday, when the measures were adopted by his cabinet.
But the picture is just as bleak across Europe, where more countries are struggling to respond to rising infections.
On Monday, Germany saw another increase in cases. In France, hospitalizations are rising again – and the situation became so dire in Paris over the weekend that leaders began evacuating around 100 Covid-19 patients from the region, citing increased pressure on hospitals.
Patients will be moved to “other regions where the ICU situation is less tense,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Sunday. Parisian hospitals were already canceling many surgeries to address the outbreak, Health Minister Olivier Véran said a coronavirus patient is admitted to intensive care units every 12 minutes.
The main cause of the wave of infections on the continent seems to be the most contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the UK; In France, the thread now accounts for 66% of cases, according to the latest official data.
This variant wreaked havoc in the UK at Christmas and at the beginning of the new year, quickly adding to the death toll in the UK, the largest in Europe, with over 125,000 deaths.
Since then, a strict blockade and rapid vaccination action have been combined to dramatically reduce cases in the UK and ease the pressure on hospitals.
CNN’s Nicola Ruotolo, Niamh Kennedy, Paula Newton, Mick Krever, Al Goodman and James Frater contributed to the reporting.