Health officials in Ireland on Sunday called for an end to the distribution of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, citing concerns raised by Norwegian officials about a possible blood clotting problem.
Reuters reported that Irish authorities said the move was taken out of a cautionary tale, explaining that officials had reported cases of blood clotting in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine similar to those taken by Norwegian health workers taking the vaccine has been reported. .
Similar reports appear in Denmark, and Ireland joins the country along with Norway and Iceland to decide to stop distributing the vaccine. The AstraZeneca shot has not yet been approved for emergency use in the US
“It may not be anything, we may be reacting and I sincerely hope that in a week’s we will be accused of being too careful,” Ireland’s Deputy Health Minister told RTE, an Irish broadcaster
“Hopefully in a few short days we will have data to reassure us, and we will be able to get on with it again,” the minister continued.
One Italian region, according to Reuters, made a similar decision on Sunday after one recipient of the vaccine died.
World Health Organization (WHO) officials said there was no clear evidence of a link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clotting, the company itself said. The vaccine is one of many included in the WHO-led COVAX effort to distribute doses to poorer countries.
“There will be people who have been vaccinated who will die from other causes. So far, the preliminary data we have seen does not lead to a causal link,” said Mariângela Simão, a deputy general secretary of the WHO.