The European Union’s medicines regulator is investigating whether the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine could be linked to a number of reports of blood clots. While the investigation is ongoing, Denmark, Iceland and Norway have suspended the use of this vaccine. Denmark announced the two week suspension on Thursday and Iceland and Norway followed, but did not specify the length of the suspension.
The pause was a “precautionary measure” according to the Dansih health minister Magnus Heunicke and that it is not possible to draw conclusions. The vaccine is not permanently discounted in these countries, but is being investigated as the largest vaccine effort continues. The European Medicines Agency did not support the decision to suspend the use of the vaccine and blood clots are not listed as a known side-effect of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine.
Read more:More European nations pause AstraZeneca vaccine use as blood clot reports investigated