AstraZeneca vaccine: Denmark ceases rollout completely

DENMARK has ceased giving the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine amid concerns about rare cases of blood clots, the first country to do so entirely.

The move is expected to delay the country’s vaccination programme by several weeks.

Drug watchdog the European Medicines Agency last week announced a possible link with clots but said the risk of dying of Covid-19 was much greater.

Several European countries have previously suspended the jab briefly.

Most have now resumed vaccinations with AstraZeneca for older population groups.

On Tuesday, the US, Canada and the European Union paused the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for similar reasons.

The EU’s vaccine roll-out has been criticised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for being too slow, and there are concerns this latest delay could throw it into further turmoil.

Both vaccines work by a similar method, known as adenoviral vectors.

Danish officials said that all 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be withdrawn until further notice.

“The Danish Health Authority has decided to continue the vaccination against Covid-19 without the vaccine from AstraZeneca,” it said in a statement.

However, it said it could not rule out using it again at another time.

Almost one million people in Denmark have been vaccinated, with approximately 150,000 of them receiving the AstraZeneca jab.

The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are also in use.

Denmark was first country to postpone use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March. It was followed by numerous other European countries.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56744474