The emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has been temporarily suspended by Denmark, the country said on Thursday.
This temporary suspension of the vaccine in the inoculation drive in the country was taken as a precaution “after reports of severe cases of blood clots in people who have been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca”, said the country’s Health Authority.
“Against this background, the European Medicines Agency has launched an investigation into the AstraZeneca vaccine. One report relates to a death in Denmark. At present, it cannot be concluded whether there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots,” the health authority said in a statement.
The statement however did not provide any details of how many incidents of blood clots were reported or where their origins were.
A similar decision was taken by authorities in Austria at the beginning of this week with authorities there proving the alleged death of one person and the illness of another allegedly after they had received doses of the vaccine.
This news resulted in a 2.4 per cent in the stocks of AstraZeneca on the London market. No comment on the Danish decision of suspension was available from the University of Oxford.
While stating that the statement made by the Danish Health Authority had been noted by the company, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca said that the company was currently engaged in investigating the possible negative health impacts related to its Covid-19 vaccine
“Patient safety is the highest priority for AstraZeneca. Regulators have clear and stringent efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new medicine, and that includes COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. The safety of the vaccine has been extensively studied in Phase III clinical trials and Peer-reviewed data confirms the vaccine is generally well tolerated,” AstraZeneca said in a statement to the media.
The 14-day suspension on the vaccine usage was only a precaution while investigations took place, insisted Søren Brostrøm, director of the National Board of Health in Denmark.
“It is important to emphasize that we have not opted out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we are putting it on hold. There is good evidence that the vaccine is both safe and effective. But both we and the Danish Medicines Agency have to react to reports of possible serious side effects, both from Denmark and other European countries,” he said.
In Austria, a person was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis (formation of blood clots within blood vessels) and dies 10 days later while another had to be hospitalized with pulmonary embolism – both after being administered the AstraZeneca vaccine, which prompted health authorities in Austria to suspended the use of batch ABV5300 of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine.
“The latter is now recovering,” the European Medicines Agency said on Wednesday.
The EMA however added that “there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.”
“Some EU countries have also subsequently suspended this batch as a precautionary measure, while a full investigation is ongoing. Although a quality defect is considered unlikely at this stage, the batch quality is being investigated,” the EMA said.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
This temporary suspension of the vaccine in the inoculation drive in the country was taken as a precaution “after reports of severe cases of blood clots in people who have been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca”, said the country’s Health Authority.
“Against this background, the European Medicines Agency has launched an investigation into the AstraZeneca vaccine. One report relates to a death in Denmark. At present, it cannot be concluded whether there is a link between the vaccine and the blood clots,” the health authority said in a statement.
The statement however did not provide any details of how many incidents of blood clots were reported or where their origins were.
A similar decision was taken by authorities in Austria at the beginning of this week with authorities there proving the alleged death of one person and the illness of another allegedly after they had received doses of the vaccine.
This news resulted in a 2.4 per cent in the stocks of AstraZeneca on the London market. No comment on the Danish decision of suspension was available from the University of Oxford.
While stating that the statement made by the Danish Health Authority had been noted by the company, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca said that the company was currently engaged in investigating the possible negative health impacts related to its Covid-19 vaccine
“Patient safety is the highest priority for AstraZeneca. Regulators have clear and stringent efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new medicine, and that includes COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. The safety of the vaccine has been extensively studied in Phase III clinical trials and Peer-reviewed data confirms the vaccine is generally well tolerated,” AstraZeneca said in a statement to the media.
The 14-day suspension on the vaccine usage was only a precaution while investigations took place, insisted Søren Brostrøm, director of the National Board of Health in Denmark.
“It is important to emphasize that we have not opted out of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we are putting it on hold. There is good evidence that the vaccine is both safe and effective. But both we and the Danish Medicines Agency have to react to reports of possible serious side effects, both from Denmark and other European countries,” he said.
In Austria, a person was diagnosed with multiple thrombosis (formation of blood clots within blood vessels) and dies 10 days later while another had to be hospitalized with pulmonary embolism – both after being administered the AstraZeneca vaccine, which prompted health authorities in Austria to suspended the use of batch ABV5300 of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine.
“The latter is now recovering,” the European Medicines Agency said on Wednesday.
The EMA however added that “there is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.”
“Some EU countries have also subsequently suspended this batch as a precautionary measure, while a full investigation is ongoing. Although a quality defect is considered unlikely at this stage, the batch quality is being investigated,” the EMA said.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
