Ireland on Sunday suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine as a precautionary measure over concerns about blood clots.
“The decision to temporarily discontinue use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine was based on new information from Norway released late last night. This is a precautionary measure,” said Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. tweeted
Ronan Glynn, the Deputy Chief of Medical Services, said experts recommended the suspension “following a report by the Norwegian Medicines Agency of four new reports of serious blood clotting events in adults following vaccination with the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.”
But Glynn also warned that there was “no conclusion” that there was a link between the coagulation incidents and the Astra-Zeneca shot, which Ireland began administering in early February.
The decision makes Ireland the latest in a string of European countries to announce partial or temporary suspension of vaccination over blood clotting concerns. It also comes just a day after Irish authorities recommended extending the use of the AstraZenca vaccine to people over 70.
Last week, Austria said it is suspending the use of a specific batch of vaccines after one person died and another fell ill with blood clotting disorders after vaccination. The batch concerned has been delivered to a total of 17 European countries, including Ireland.
Bulgaria announced on Friday that it was completely discontinuing vaccinations with the AstraZeneca shot, citing “the occurrence of intolerable side effects with proper use of the vaccine.”
On Friday, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman said a causal link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the coagulation incidents “has not been established”.
The spokesperson said WHO’s group of immunization experts, SAGE, was reviewing the recent reports and would release its findings as soon as they became available.