[이코노믹리뷰=곽예지 기자] The number of European countries that partially or temporarily suspended the use of the COVID-19 vaccine by global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has increased to 10. This seems to be because some cases of blood clot formation reactions have been reported after vaccination.
According to local media on the 11th (local time), health authorities such as Denmark, Norway and Iceland temporarily suspended vaccination of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The remaining seven countries, including Italy, have stopped vaccinating certain manufacturing units of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Danish authorities recently announced that some cases of blood clots were found after vaccination with AstraZeneca, and that a 60-year-old woman also died, and that the vaccination would be discontinued for up to two weeks. Norway and Iceland also announced today that they will stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine until further information is available. However, the specific suspension period was not disclosed.
Earlier in Austria, a 49-year-old woman who received a specific manufacturing unit AstraZeneca vaccine died of a clot-forming reaction 10 days later. Austria stressed that it would not distribute and inoculate the remaining quantities of the vaccine.
Health authorities in each country have concluded that the causal relationship between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots is not clear, and explained that they have taken these measures as a preventive measure.
Recently, in Europe, 10 countries including Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland continued to partially or temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca vaccination until this day. The vaccine that Austria stopped using was supplied to 17 European countries with the manufacturing unit’ABV5300′. Italy also banned the use of AstraZeneca vaccine, whose manufacturing unit is’ABV2856′.
“The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks,” said the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
AstraZeneca said, “Patient safety is a top priority,” and emphasized, “We have extensively tested safety issues in clinical trials, and have been approved for use in accordance with strict safety standards of national authorities.”
Meanwhile, the UK, Sweden and France will continue to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.