LONDON (AP) – Irish health officials on Sunday recommended temporary discontinuation of AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of severe blood clotting following vaccinations in Norway.
Dr. Ronan Glynn, deputy chief of medical service for Ireland, said the recommendation was made after the Norwegian medicines agency reported four cases of blood clotting in adults after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
He said that while there was no conclusive link between the vaccine and the cases, Irish health officials are recommending the suspension of the vaccine’s introduction as a precaution. The Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic authorities have taken similar precautions.
AstraZeneca said in a statement on Sunday that it “wants to offer reassurance about the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine based on clear scientific evidence.”
“Public safety will always come first,” said the British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company, adding that it is “closely monitoring this issue, but the available evidence does not confirm the vaccine is the cause.”
The company said a review of safety data from more than 17 million people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine in the European Union and the UK “has not provided evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or thrombocytopenia, in a specific age group, gender, group or country. “
The World Health Organization and the European Union’s regulator of medicines have previously said there was no link between the injection and an increased risk of developing a clot.
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