A woman receives the AstraZeneca's vaccine in Bruinisse, the Netherlands
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Germany on Monday halted the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine after reported blood clotting incidents in Europe, saying that a closer look was necessary.
"After new reports of thromboses of the cerebral veins in connection with the vaccination in Germany and Europe, the PEI considers further investigations to be necessary," said the German health ministry, referring to a recommendation by the country’s vaccine authority, the Paul Ehrlich Institute.
"The European Medicines Agency EMA will decide whether and how the new findings will affect the approval of the vaccine," it added.
Several European countries, including Ireland and the Netherlands, have suspended usage of the shots, which were jointly developed with the University of Oxford.
Both the British-Swedish company and Oxford have said there was no link between their vaccine and blood clotting.
AstraZeneca says data from the 17 million vaccine doses so far provided no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or low levels of platelets.
The World Health Organisation said on Friday that there was no reason to stop taking the shots.
Many millions of people in Britain have so far received the British-Swedish pharma company’s vaccine, but in the European Union, a rollout using the jabs has been slowed down by delivery problems.
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