Denmark has become the first country to permanently halt the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine following the possible link with very rare cases of blood clots.
The Danish health authority said on Wednesday that vaccination of the vaccine would continue without its AstraZeneca shot following its own review, as it warned of a ‘real risk of serious side effects’.
“Based on the scientific findings, our overall assessment is that there is a real risk of serious side effects associated with the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine,” said DHA Director General Søren Brostrøm, said. “So we decided to remove the vaccine from our vaccination program,” he added.
The health agency said it agreed with the European Union’s medicine regulator that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks, but noted that the watchdog encouraged individual countries to consider their own situations and the availability of vaccines.
Brostrøm said the epidemic is currently under control in Denmark, with a large proportion of the elderly population being vaccinated and those who have not yet been vaccinated at less risk.
“We must weigh this against the fact that we have a known risk of serious adverse effects from vaccination with AstraZeneca, even if the risk is absolutely absolute,” he added.
Those who have already received the first dose of AstraZeneca AZN
AZN,
the health authority will be invited for the second time to have another vaccine.
Read: Moderna and Novavax added ‘mix and match’ COVID-19 vaccine trial
It added that Denmark could reinstate the use of the vaccine from the UK-Swedish medicine company at a later date if the country’s situation changes.
Last week, the British government’s vaccination advisory committee said people under the age of 30 would be offered an alternative vaccine. This comes after the UK’s drug regulator – the Regulatory Agency (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency – MHRA) – said the benefits outweighed the risks for most people, but MHRA CEO, dr.
Denmark’s move is another setback to the EU’s already sluggish vaccination campaign, which was exacerbated on Tuesday after US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
said it would delay the planned rollout of its COVID-19 shot over the 27-member bloc due to reports of blood clotting.
Read: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Break: What to Know If You Got the Shot or Scheduled
J&J made the decision after U.S. health officials called for an immediate halt to the use of the vaccine while investigating six serious cases of rare blood clots reported in people who received the shot. J&J would deliver 55 million doses of its single-vaccine vaccine to the EU in the second quarter.
The J&J vaccine is currently only delayed, but the analysis company Airfinity has warned that the EU vaccination will take two months longer than expected if the block could not use the shot at all.
However, there was good news for Europe as the EU reached an agreement to speed up the delivery of another 50 million doses of the vaccine jointly developed by German biotechnology BioNTech BNTX.
and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE,
to promote the deployment program.
The decision by Denmark could delay the country’s vaccination by up to four weeks, based on previous statements by health authorities, a Reuters report noted.
The country was the first to initially suspend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March due to safety concerns. Last week, the EU drug regulator said “unusual blood clots” should be listed as a “very rare” side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but insisted that the benefits of the shot still outweigh the risks.
Read: Europe’s vaccination problems continue as Spain and Italy stop using AstraZeneca shots for children under 60
Most EU countries have since resumed use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but some countries, including Spain and Italy, have restricted the use of the shot to people over 60. Last month, French and German health officials banned the use of the AstraZeneca shot limited. for older than 55 and older than 60, respectively, after concerns about unusual blood clotting in some recipients.
Shares in AstraZeneca traded 1.31% higher in London on Wednesday.
AstraZeneca acknowledged the findings of the EMA, as well as a separate review of the MHRA in the UK, pointing out that they ‘reaffirmed that the vaccine offers a high level of protection against all seriousness of COVID-19 and that these benefits still outweighs the risks. ”
The drug company said it is working with global regulators to better understand the individual cases, epidemiology and possible mechanisms that could explain these extremely rare events.