Germany, France, and Italy SUSPEND AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine over Blood Clot Concerns
Posted on 03/15/2021
Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (Paul Ehrlich Institute) witnessed an increase in rare brain blood clots in some cases (a special form of a very-rare cerebral vein thrombosis) after the administration of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut is an Agency of the German Federal Ministry of Health. Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands are the latest to suspend the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. Thailand has also halted its planned deployment of the vaccine that aims to combat the novel coronavirus.
The Dutch government said that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine would not be used until at least March 29, 2021.
Last week, the World Health Organization has sought to downplay ongoing safety concerns, arguing that there is no link between the shot and an increased risk of developing blood clots. The United Nations health agency has urged nations to continue using the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine. The European Medicines Agency said that available data do not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized.
The vaccine was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. This version is a viral vector form in which it was made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees, according to the BBC.