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Some European countries have postponed vaccination of AstraZeneca to more closely examine safety.
“After there were reports of a vaccination-related blood clotting incident, the Paul Ehrlich Institute deemed it necessary to examine it more closely,” the German Health Ministry said, referring to the recommendations of the Paul Ehrlich Institute’s medical regulator.
“The European Pharmaceutical Authority (EMA) will decide how the new findings affect the approval of the vaccine,” added the German Health Ministry.
“Today’s decision is purely a precautionary measure. This is a professional decision, not a political one,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said, adding that he expected the EMA to give specific guidance in the near future after considering coagulation cases.
According to Mr. Spahn, although the risk of blood clots is low, this risk cannot be ruled out.
AstraZeneca said there was no link between its vaccine and the blood clotting problem, according to the AFP news agency.
On the same day, France and Italy also announced that they would postpone the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine pending instructions from the EMA.
Denmark and Norway have been postponed since last week after several cases of blood clots were reported. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit, while Ireland and the Netherlands just announced the postponement on March 14.
The move by some of Europe’s largest countries has raised concerns about a slow rollout of vaccines in the region. European Union countries are already affected by supply shortages related to problems with vaccine production.
Last week, Germany warned it was facing a third wave of infections, Italy was on lockdown and hospitals in the French capital of Paris were nearly overloaded.
The World Health Organization (WHO) urges countries not to suspend vaccines in the context of the current COVID-19 epidemic that has caused 2.7 million deaths worldwide.
“So far, there is no evidence that the problems have been caused by vaccines,” said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier.
The UK says it is not concerned about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while Poland says it believes the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any risks.
