A first European country to abandon AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine

Shafaq News/ Denmark decided on Wednesday to stop using AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine. it has become the first country in Europe to abandon it.

The decision was taken due to the vaccine's link with very rare cases of blood clots, the country's health agency said.

“Despite the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) favoring the use of the AstraZeneca jab, Denmark's vaccine campaign would continue without it.” Danish Health Authority director Soren Brostrom told a press conference.

"Overall, we must say that the results show that there is a real and serious side effect signal in the vaccine from AstraZeneca," He added.

In Denmark, two recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine have suffered severe blood clots, one of which was fatal.

Nevertheless, most vaccinations have been with the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

About 150,000 people have received the AstraZeneca vaccine and will now be offered a different jab for their second dose, said Brostom.

The majority of other European countries that suspended the vaccine have since resumed using it, often by confining jabs to a certain age group.

Neither the United States nor Switzerland has authorized the use of AstraZeneca due to concerns over side effects.

AstraZeneca has experienced major delivery problems during the first quarter and expects to send far fewer vaccines than its contract with the EU called for during the second quarter.

Earlier, U.S. federal health agencies recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for at least a few days after six women under age 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot.