BERLIN (AP) — Spain will stop administering the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for two weeks while experts review its safety, Health Minister Carolina Dias announced Monday.
Other European Union countries, including France, Germany and Italy, have also temporarily stopped using the AstraZeneca jab amid reports that some people developed blood clots after receiving the shot.
Dias announced the “precautionary and temporary” move at a news conference in Madrid after consulting Spain’s regional governments.
A handful of Spain’s 17 regions had already stopped giving the AstraZeneca jab, despite the national government’s earlier insistence that there was no evidence to warrant changing vaccine policy.
AstraZeneca and global health authorities insist the shot is safe.
Spain has been giving the jab only to people under 55 years of age, saying its effectiveness on older people is not proven.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany, France and Italy on Monday became the latest countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, though the company and European regulators have said there is no evidence the shot is to blame.
AstraZeneca’s formula is just one of three vaccines in use on the continent. But the move amounts to another setback for the European Union’s vaccine rollout, which has been plagued by supply shortages and other hurdles and is lagging well behind the campaigns in Britain and the U.S.
The EU drug regulatory agency’s safety committee called a meeting for Thursday to review experts’ findings on the AstraZeneca vaccine and decide whether action needs to be taken.
The furor comes as much of Europe is tightening restrictions on schools and businesses amid surging cases of COVID-19.
Germany’s health minister said the decision to suspend AstraZeneca shots was taken on the advice of the country’s vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for further investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had been vaccinated.
“Today’s decision is a purely precautionary measure,” Jens Spahn said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will likewise suspend shots until at least Tuesday afternoon. He said France hopes to resume using the formula soon.
Italy’s drug regulator also announced a precautionary, temporary ban, less than 24 hours after saying the “alarm” over the vaccine “wasn’t justified.”
AstraZeneca said there have been 37 reports of blood clots out of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the 27-country European Union and Britain. The drugmaker said there is no evidence the vaccine carries an increased risk of clots.
In fact, it said the incidence of clots is much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of…
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