Denmark suspends AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine following reports of blood clots, 1 death

Denmark has suspended the administration of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines following reports of blood clots as a potential side effect in some patients.

What are the details?

According to a Thursday Reuters report, Denmark has suspended the COVID-19 shots for two weeks following reports of the "formation of blood clots in some who have been vaccinated, including one death in Denmark."

The Danish Health Authority said that the person who died formed a blood clot after the injection.

Reuters also said that Austria stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca shots as the country investigates "a death from coagulation disorders and an illness from a pulmonary embolism."

In a statement, the director of the Danish Health Authority, Soren Brostrom, said, "Both we and the Danish Medicines Agency have to respond to reports of possible serious side effects, both from Denmark and other European countries."

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke added, "It is currently not possible to conclude whether there is a link. We are acting early, it needs to be thoroughly investigated."

On Thursday, AstraZeneca told Reuters that the safety of its vaccine has been "extensively studied in human trials and peer-reviewed data had confirmed the vaccine was generally well tolerated."

The drug manufacturer this week also insisted that during trials, there were "no confirmed serious adverse events associated with the vaccine."

What else?

Reuters also added that the EU's drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said that there was "no evidence so far linking AstraZeneca to the two cases in Austria."

"It said the number of thromboembolic events — marked by the formation of blood clots — in people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine is no higher than that seen in the general population, with 22 cases of such events being reported among the 3 million people who have received it as of March 9," the outlet reported.

Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Latvia have also stopped vaccines rom the AstraZeneca batch while health authorities investigate the findings.

Brostrom added, "It is important to emphasize that we have not opted out of using the AstraZeneca vaccine, but that we are putting it on hold."