The Danish Health Authority (DHA) has announced that it is temporarily suspending inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The decision comes after blood clots formed in several people who had the jab, with one person reportedly dying.

The health agency said it has not conclusively established a link between the clots and the AstraZeneca shot. But said it had asked the regional authorities in charge of the vaccination programme to stop using the vaccine for the time being.

The agency also said it would reassess the situation in consultation with the Danish Medicines Agency in two weeks’ time. And stressed that there was “good evidence that the vaccine is both safe and effective”.

The Director of the DHA, Soren Brostrom told reporters, “We are in the middle of the largest and most important vaccination rollout in Danish history.

“Right now we need all the vaccines we can get. It is therefore not an easy decision to put one on pause. Precisely because we are vaccinating so many people, we also need to respond promptly and carefully when we have knowledge of possible serious side-effects. We need to clarify this before we can continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Soren Brostrom

The health agency did not give the total number of blood clots reports in the country. Authorities said the suspension means people who have had an initial shot of the vaccine would not receive a second jab for the time being. They also cancelled all AstraZeneca vaccination slots.

denmark — Photo: Frank Cilius/Ritzau Scanpix

Around Europe blood

Austria had earlier announced it has stopped using one batch of AstraZeneca doses while it investigates the death of a vaccine recipient. The woman reportedly died from multiple blood clots on 7^th March, ten days after taking the vaccine. And another person who received a shot from the same vaccine batch was also hospitalized for thromboembolism; that is blood clot in the lung.

Six other European countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Lithuania, have reportedly halted the use of a batch from AstraZeneca. These countries also received doses from the same ABV5300 batch. The batch reportedly contained a million doses and was delivered to 17 EU countries in total.

After the Austrian incident, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) -which approved the use of Astrazeneca in adults in Europe – said; “There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine”.

Overall, EU-member countries have reported 22 thromboembolic events among the three million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca. As a result, EMA noted that the number of people reporting blood clots, who had received the shot, was not higher than the general population.

AstraZeneca also maintained that its shots are subject to strict and rigorous quality controls. And that there have been “no confirmed serious adverse events associated with the vaccine”. It said it was in contact with Austrian authorities and would fully support their investigation.

Denmark is ahead of most of the EU-member countries with its vaccination programme. It has already administered a first dose to about 13% of its population, according to the DHA.