Slovenia has temporarily halted the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, joining a number of the European Union states in the move, the national news agency STA reported on Monday citing Health Minister Janez Poklukar.
"An expert group suggested out of caution a temporary halt until the decision by the European Medicines Agency (EMA)," STA quoted Poklukar as saying.
ReplyDeleteSpain has suspended its rollout of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, after reports of adverse side effects prompted more than a dozen other states to do the same, despite assurances from EU regulators that the jab is safe.
Spanish health officials said on Monday night that they would halt vaccinations for the AstraZeneca inoculation for at least two weeks, pending a safety review, a decision mirrored in France, Portugal, Cyprus and Slovenia on the same day. All pointed to recent reports of blood clotting and several deaths among recipients of the vaccine.
Austria became the first nation to partially suspend its rollout of the AstraZeneca inoculation last Monday, halting distribution of a single batch after a recipient was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis (clotting within several blood vessels at once) and died 10 days after the shot. At least three others experienced adverse effects from the same batch.
DeleteDays later, Denmark moved to suspend all AstraZeneca vaccinations, with Norway and Iceland following suit. Over the weekend, Norwegian health officials reported three other hospitalizations and one death among recipients of the jab, all linked to blood clots or brain hemorrhaging. Danish authorities also announced the death of a 60-year-old woman from blood clotting on Sunday.
Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Romania have since paused vaccinations from the same batch halted in Austria, dubbed ABV5300, which was distributed throughout 17 countries.