Netherlands halted use of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution

The Netherlands suspended this Sunday, as a precaution, the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus until March 28, after “possible side effects” were reported in Denmark and Norway.

“Based on new information, the Dutch Medicines Authority has advised, as a precautionary measure and pending further investigation, to suspend administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine” against covid-19, said the Ministry of Health in a press release.

“The crucial question is whether these are complaints after the vaccination or because of the vaccination. There should be no questions about vaccinations“Said the Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge, quoted in the press release.

“We have to be careful, and that’s why the sensible thing to do now is to press the pause button, as a precaution,” he added.

Norway, like Iceland and Denmark, announced Thursday that it was suspending use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, also as a “precaution”, due to fears related to blood clots. blood in people vaccinated with the vaccine.

Bulgaria followed suit on Friday and Thailand delayed its vaccination campaign with this product.

However, No similar case has been detected in the Netherlands, said the ministry, which advised people vaccinated with the product to contact their doctor if they experience “unexpected and / or unknown” symptoms after three days..

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there was no “reason not to use” the vaccine developed by the British laboratory. AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

In contrast, Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said on Sunday that “There is no evidence” that your coronavirus vaccine carries an increased risk of blood clots despite the decision of several European Union (EU) countries to suspend its use as a precautionary measure.

The company said it had carried out “a thorough review” of the data available on those who received the vaccine in the UK and the EU.

“Some 17 million people in the EU and UK have already received our vaccine and the number of reported clots in this group is lower than the average one would expect in the general population,” he said. -he explains. chief doctor, Ann Taylor.

“The nature of the pandemic has increased attention to individual cases. We go beyond the usual safety practices of monitoring authorized drugs on vaccine incident cases to ensure public safety, ”he added.

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