Ireland recommends stopping use of AstraZeneca vaccine

Irish health officials on Sunday recommended temporarily suspending the application of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to reports that it had caused serious blood clots in Norway.

The recommendation comes after the Norwegian health agency reported four cases of blood clots in adults who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, Ireland’s deputy director of public health, Dr Ronan Glynn reported.

He added that while a cause and effect relationship between the vaccine and the clots has not been established, Irish experts recommend temporarily stopping its use as a precaution.

The Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic authorities have taken similar measures. The World Health Organization and the European Union’s pharmaceutical agency said a few days ago that there was no link between the clots and the vaccine.

The UK medicines regulatory agency warned Thursday that “the number of blood clots reported is no different from what would have occurred independently” and that “the available evidence does not show that the vaccine is the cause”.

He said citizens should always be vaccinated as soon as possible.