Several countries, mostly in Europe have suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine over fears the shot may have caused some recipients to develop blood clots.
AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational, on Sunday said fewer than 40 cases of blood clots had been reported as of last week.
To date, more than 17 million people have received the vaccine in the United Kingdom and the European Union.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting on Tuesday to review the available safety data on the vaccine.
WHO has repeatedly expressed confidence in the vaccine’s safety in recent days, with the organisation’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying there was no evidence of a link so far.
These are the countries that have suspended use of the vaccine to date:
- Sweden (16 March) – The Swedish Medical Products Agency said a day earlier it had recorded 10 cases of blood clots and one case of low levels of platelets among people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, but not in combination.
- Latvia (16 March) – Latvian government health agencies announced a “temporary suspension” of up to two weeks.
- France (15 March) – President Emmanuel Macron said, “The decision has been made … to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution, hoping that we can resume it quickly if the judgement of the EMA allows it”.
- Germany (15 March)
- Italy (15 March)
- Spain (15 March) – Health Minister Carolina Darias told reporters, “We have decided to temporarily suspend [use of the AstraZeneca vaccine] as a precaution”
- Luxembourg (15 March)
- Cyprus (15 March)
- Portugal (15 March)
- Slovenia (15 March)
- Indonesia (15 March)
- The Netherlands (15 March)
- Ireland (14 March)
- Bulgaria (12 March)
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo (12 March)
- Thailand (12 March)
- Romania (11 March)
- Iceland (11 March)
- Denmark (11 March)
- Norway (11 March)
- Austria (7 March)