Denmark First Country to Completely Stop Use of AstraZeneca Jab

Image used for representational purpose.

(Image Courtesy: IANS)

Denmark on Wednesday, 14 April, became the first country to stop using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine linking the use with formation of blood clot, reported Reuters.

According to the Denmark health authorities, this development will delay the expected end of Denmark’s vaccination programme to early August instead of the previously decided 25 July.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which was earlier suspended by Denmark and whose rollout was delayed by Europe over similar concerns of clotting, will now be put to use in Denmark.

Danish health agency head Soren Brostrom said that the investigations into the AstraZeneca-associated blood clots showed some real and serious side effects

“We have therefore chosen to continue the vaccination programme for all target groups without this vaccine," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

AstraZeneca in a statement said that it respected Denmark’s decision and would continue to provide it with data so that the country can make informed decisions.

“Implementation and rollout of the vaccine programme is a matter for each country to decide, based on local conditions,” the company said.

A statement issued by the European Union’s drug watchdog last week stated that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), a brain blood clot.

It also said that the risk of dying from COVID-19 was much greater than the risk of mortality from rare side effects.

”It is upto individual states to make their own risk assessments and decide how to administer the vaccine”

European Union’s drug watchdog

The vaccine use has been resumed in many countries in Europe with restrictions to people aged above 50 and above 60.

AstraZeneca vaccine was first suspended in Denmark in March over safety concerns.

Around one million of the country’s 5.8 million population have received their first vaccine shot. 77 percent received Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, 7.8 percent Moderna and 15.3 percent received AstraZeneca’a shot.

(With inputs from Reuters)