BERLIN (AP) – Italy’s drug regulatory agency on Monday announced a temporary and preventive ban on the use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine amid new reports of people who developed dangerous blood clots after taking the injection.
Italy’s Aifa said the decision “was made in accordance with similar measures adopted by other European countries”.
He added that “further analysis of the matter is underway”. The announcement was followed by a day, the last known death of a person in Italy, shortly after receiving the vaccine. A 57-year-old clarinet teacher, who received the vaccine in northern Piedmont on Saturday night, as part of a national launch for teachers, died at home on Sunday morning.
Autopsies were ordered for that death, as well as for a handful of other deaths in the past week of others in Italy who received the vaccine.
France and Germany also suspended the use of the vaccine on Monday. AstraZeneca and global health officials insist that the injection is safe.
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BERLIN (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron says France is suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus as a precaution.
Macron told a news conference on Monday that French authorities had decided to suspend vaccines until at least Tuesday afternoon, when the European Medicines Agency will issue its recommendation on the vaccine. He did not elaborate on the reasons for the decision.
He said France hopes to be able to vaccinate again with AstraZeneca injections “soon”.
Other countries, including Germany on Monday, said they would temporarily suspend the use of the vaccine as a precaution amid reports that some people developed blood clots after receiving the injection.
AstraZeneca and global health officials insist that the injection is safe.
THIS IS AN UPDATE OF LATEST NEWS. The previous history of the AP follows below.
BERLIN (AP) – Germany on Monday became the largest country in Europe to suspend the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine due to reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients, although the company and European regulators say there are no evidence that the shooting is to blame.
The country’s health minister said the decision was taken on the advice of Germany’s national vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for a more in-depth investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who were vaccinated.
“Today’s decision is a purely precautionary measure,” said Jens Spahn.
Several countries, starting with Denmark last week, have temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past few days to investigate cases of blood clots that occurred after vaccination. They include Ireland, Thailand, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Congo and Bulgaria.
Last week, Germany was one of several nations that followed the shot.
Blood clots can travel through the body and cause heart attacks, strokes and deadly blockages in the lungs.
AstraZeneca said there was no reason to be concerned about its vaccine and that there were fewer cases of thrombosis reported in people who received the injection than in the general population.
The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization also said that the data does not suggest that the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized.
Spahn, the German health minister, said of the decision to suspend the injection of AstraZeneca: “The most important thing for trust is transparency”.
Spahn said the European Medicines Agency will determine whether and how the new information will affect vaccine authorization across the continent and expressed hope that the Amsterdam-based regulator will make a decision on the matter this week.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Germany received just over 3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Spahn said that about 1.6 million doses of the vaccine have so far been administered in the country.
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