While the AstraZeneca vaccine is proven to prevent cases of Covid, some countries have reacted with excessive caution as they consider approving it.
The UK medicines regulator is pushing people to continue taking the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, despite a number of countries suspending their rollout to investigate reports of blood clots among people who have had the jab.
While the AstraZeneca vaccine is proven to prevent cases of Covid, some countries have reacted with excessive caution as they consider approving it.
Denmark has suspended the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine as local authorities are cautious amid reports of blood clots among vaccinated people. Another woman was hospitalised days after receiving a vaccine from the same batch with a pulmonary embolism. The decision is a precaution as health authorities have not found a concrete cause-and-effect connection between clotting and the vaccine.
Austrian authorities halted their rollout on Sunday when a woman died from multiple thromboses. The condition is the result of blood clotting. Two other reports of clotting had also emerged after authorities administered the jab in other EU countries. The EMA has investigated the link, and concluded that the vaccine was not the root cause of the blood clots.
Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Lithuania are the European countries currently not administering the AstraZeneca vaccine. Elsewhere, Thailand has also delayed the use of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine after multiple European countries temporarily suspended it.
AstraZeneca released a new statement to announce that there is no evidence to support that there is an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis associated with taking their vaccine.