Denmark, Norway, Iceland Temporarily Suspend Use Of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine Over Blood Clot Concerns

Denmark, Norway and Iceland have temporarily suspended the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine over the concerns that the patients were developing blood clots after receiving the doses, reports Economic Times.

First to announce the temporary suspension, Denmark has however stressed that its a precautionary move and that it has not been determined, at the time being, that there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots.

It should be noted that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and also the pharmaceutical giant which has developed the vaccine have insisted that the vaccine is safe to use. EMA has said that as of 9 March, 22 cases of blood clots had been reported among more than three million people vaccinated in the European Economic Area.

Austria had meanwhile on Monday (8 March) suspended the use of a particular batch of AstraZeneca's vaccines after the death of a 49-years-old nurse due to "severe blood coagulation problems" which had come up after she had received her vaccine shot.

Following this, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxemburg have also suspended the use of doses received under the batch which was distributed among 17 European nations and comprised of one million doses.