The Netherlands has joined a growing list of countries that suspend the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after reports of possible post-inoculation side effects.
The Dutch government said on Sunday that it would stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine for two weeks “as a precautionary measure and awaiting further investigations”.
The decision came just days after Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said “there was no cause for concern” and that vaccinations could continue. In a statement on Sunday, the Dutch Ministry of Health said its Medicines Assessment Board (CBG) received “new information” over the weekend.
The statement said that so far no “causal relationship” has been established between the vaccine and the side effects recently reported in Denmark and Norway, but that it would stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine until March 29.
“The CBG indicates that a total of six new reports of possible side effects have been received from Denmark and Norway. These are rare and serious signs of clot formation (thrombosis) and a reduced number of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia) in adults under 50, “the statement said, adding that such cases have not yet occurred in the Netherlands.
“The crucial question is whether it is complaints after vaccination or caused by vaccination,” said De Jonge in the statement. “There cannot be a single question about vaccines.”
AstraZeneca strongly defended its vaccine, saying in a statement on Sunday that there were no confirmed quality problems for any batch of the drug and “no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia” for people who have had Received.
Some context: The Netherlands is the last European country to partially or completely suspend the launch of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of patients who developed blood clots after inoculations.
- Austria was the first to sound the alarm about the potential dangers of the vaccine, suspending a batch of doses last Tuesday.
- Italy banned the use of vaccines from a specific batch of doses of AstraZeneca last Friday, after a man in Sicily died of cardiac arrest a day after receiving his first dose of the vaccine.
- Denmark became the first European country to temporarily suspend the entire launch of the AstraZeneca vaccine last Thursday, followed by Iceland, Norway and Ireland.
The European Union’s drug regulator, EMA, is currently investigating whether the injection could be related to a series of reports of blood clots.