Irish health authorities recommended suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine due to thrombosis detected in Norway

Irish health authorities recommended the temporary suspension from this Sunday of the application of AstraZeneca’s covid-19 vaccine in this country as a “precautionary” measure, after having detected new cases of blood clots in people who have received this preparation.

The recommendation issued by the National Immunization Advisory Commission (NIAC) in Ireland is based on new data “provided by the Norwegian Medicines Agency on Saturday afternoon and following discussions with the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA)”.

In a statement, Ireland’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn explained that NIAC had received additional information from a “Norwegian Medicines Agency report (report) four new incidents of serious blood clots in adults after having been inoculated with the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine ”.

Glynn clarified that “it has not been concluded that there is a link between the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine and these cases”. “However, Acting on a precautionary principle and pending further information, CANI recommended the temporary postponement of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the Irish vaccination programAdded the manager.

Norway stopped the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday, after Denmark took similar action. Iceland then he reproduced the decision. “We don’t know if the cases are related to the vaccine,” Sigurd Hortemo, chief medical officer of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, said at a press conference jointly organized with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. All three people are under 50 years old.

Italy has also decided to suspend the use of a batch of AstraZeneca as a precautionary measure, while four other European countries – Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Luxembourg – have suspended vaccines by a batch of one million vaccines, delivered to 17 countries, including Italy.

AstraZeneca said that an analysis of its safety data covering reported cases of more than 17 million doses of vaccines given showed no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia, with low platelet counts.

“In fact, the number of such events reported for the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine is no greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the unvaccinated population,” a company spokesperson said. Such trends or patterns were also not seen in clinical trials of the vaccine, he added.

Before Denmark and Norway stop distributing the AstraZeneca vaccine, Austria stopped using batch of injections while investigating death from bleeding disorders and pulmonary embolism.

At the same time, AstraZeneca confirmed this weekend new delivery delays for the European Union.

The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company has said it will try to deliver 30 million doses to the EU by the end of March. The figure is lower than the contractual obligation of 90 million and is also lower than the 40 million doses promised last month.

The new lower target is also not guaranteed as it depends on obtaining regulatory approval from a vaccine factory in Leiden run by subcontractor Halix.

(With information from EFE and Reuters)

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