DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland temporarily suspended AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday “out of caution”, citing the Norwegian Medicines Agency over a group of serious blood clots at some recipients there.
Three health workers in Norway who recently received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are being treated in hospital for bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count, his health authorities said on Saturday.
The National Immunization Advisory Committee (NIAC) of Ireland has recommended the temporary postponement pending the receipt of more information from European regulators in the coming days.
Authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland have suspended the use of the vaccine due to clotting problems, while Austria stopped using a number of AstraZeneca shots last week while investigating the deaths due to clotting disorders.
EMA said there was no indication that the events were caused by the vaccination, a view expressed by the World Health Organization on Friday. AstraZeneca also said it found no evidence of an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis.
Irish authorities have received some reports of coagulation similar to those seen in Europe last week, but nothing as serious as the cases in Norway, said Ronan Glynn, deputy chief executive.
Glynn said the fact that the Norwegian cases were related to a group of four unusual clotting events in which the brain involved 30 to 40-year-olds raised the greater concern.
He said one of the reasons Ireland is acting now is to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine next week to people of a similar age with severe underlying conditions.
“It can be nothing, we may be reacting and I sincerely hope that in a week’s time we will be accused of being too careful,” Glynn told national broadcaster RTE.
“Hopefully in a few short days we will have data to reassure us, and we will be able to get started with this again.”
AstraZeneca vaccines make up 20% of the 590,000 shots given to Ireland’s 4.9 million people, mainly to healthcare workers after their initial use is not recommended for those over 70, and the firm has far fewer vaccines on the European Union provided as agreed.
There were 4,534 COVID-19-related deaths in Ireland. The number of cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days has dropped to 155 from a peak of more than 1,500 in January, although officials are worried about a slight increase in new cases in recent days.
Northern Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill has also expressed concern about the suspension of AstraZeneca elsewhere. The region’s assistant director of public health, Stephen Bergin, said the introduction of the vaccine would continue.
Like the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland is much further ahead in its program and has vaccinated more than 40% of the adult population, relying heavily on AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
Reporting by Padraic Halpin, Edited by Bernadette Baum and Louise Heavens