The AstraZeneca vaccine has had a bumpy time in Europe since it was cleared by EU regulators in January.
Credit: AP
European politicians have moved to defend the AstraZeneca vaccine as Bulgaria became the latest European country to suspended its use over fears it causes blood clots.
The health ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands said that their countries would continue to use the jab after the European Medicines Agency said it was safe to use.
“There is no reason to stop,’ Dutch health minister Hugo De Jonge said. ‘It is a good vaccine.”
Denmark, Iceland and Norway stopped administering the Oxford University jab on Thursday after a death from a blood clot in Denmark.
On Friday morning, Bulgaria’s government said it would not resume use of the vaccine until the European Medicines Agency had sent a written statement dispelling all doubts about the vaccine’s safety.
Italy and Austria temporarily stopped using a specific batch of the coronavirus vaccine after another person died. Thailand suspended its roll out of the AstraZeneca jab as fears around the vaccine grew.
Belgian minister of health Frank Vandenbroucke criticised the Danish decision. “There is absolutely no indication that there is a problem with blood clotting,” he said.
He said: "It is difficult to understand what the Danes are doing. Unfortunately, people regularly die from blood clots. It’s not that people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine are more likely to have blood clotting problems.”
EU vaccine rollout suffers
Thailand also delayed use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday.
A publicity event with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha receiving his first shot was canceled with dozens of media attending, less than an hour before the scheduled start.
Instead, health officials held a news conference to explain the delay was based on the decision made by Denmark, Austria and others as a precaution. The Danish health authority said Thursday it has no evidence the vaccine was responsible for blood clots.
Other countries such as the UK, Sweden, Spain, Mexico and France have already said that they will continue with their vaccination campaigns. France’s vaccine chief said the AstraZeneca jab had shown “great efficiency”.
The suspensions are the latest blow to AstraZeneca’s reputation in Europe, which has been sullied by a row over supply shortfalls to the EU.
The British-Swedish company told the European Commission it was set to deliver less than half the planned number of doses in the second quarter of the year.
Vaccine distribution around the world
Mr Vandenbroucke said the latest disappointment was “very boring” and would slow Belgium’s glacial vaccination roll out even further.
After AstraZeneca told Brussels about delivery problems for the first quarter in January, the commission accused it of breaching its contractual obligations, which the company denies.
A number of EU member states imposed age limits on the use of the vaccine, which stoked unfounded fears the jab was less effective than Pfizer and hurt pick-up of the vaccine across the Continent.
Most of those countries have since lifted the age limits, which were imposed after Emmanuel Macron said it was “quasi-ineffective” in the over 65s.
AstraZeneca is now seen as having a crucial role in ramping up the EU’s slow vaccination roll-out. Italy last week became the first country to use an EU export ban to block a shipment of 250,000 jabs leaving the bloc for Australia.
A spokesman for AstraZeneca, said, "An analysis of our safety data of more than 10 million records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca.
"In fact, the observed number of these types of events are significantly lower in those vaccinated than what would be expected among the general population.”
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