LONDON – Irish health officials on Sunday recommended the temporary suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of severe blood clots following vaccinations in Norway.
Dr Ronan Glynn, Ireland’s deputy chief executive, said the recommendation was made after the Norwegian Medicines Agency reported four cases of blood clots in adults after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He said there was no conclusive link between the vaccine and the cases, but Irish health officials recommended suspending vaccination as a precaution.
Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic authorities have taken similar precautionary measures. The World Health Organization and the European Union’s medicine regulator said earlier this week that there was no link between the jab and an increased risk of developing a blood clot.
The British drug regulator, the MHRA, said on Thursday that ‘reports of blood clots so far do not exceed the number that would naturally occur in the vaccinated population’ and that ‘available evidence does not confirm that the vaccine is the cause. ”
It is said that people should still get their COVID-19 vaccine when asked to do so.
