COVID-19: Belgium also banned vaccine Macri obtained in the United States

Belgium interrupted use of the coronavirus vaccine Johnson and Johnson (J&J) for children under 41 years after the death of a person who received the injection. The Belgian government has requested the urgent opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before considering lifting the suspension.

With this decision, Belgium becomes the second country after Norway to postpone the use of this drug. According to the Belgian government, the woman was vaccinated by her foreign employer outside the Belgian system and died in the country last week after developing “severe thrombosis and reduced blood platelets”.

The government assured that the impact of the suspension would be very limited in the national vaccination campaign. The J&J vaccine was only implemented for the elderly with reduced mobility and the homeless, as only one injection is needed to protect themselves.

So far, Belgium has administered more than six million doses, of which 1.7 million people have received the full vaccine, or 15.36% of the population of the European country.

What about the vaccine in Norway

Norway, for its part, has suspended the decision to include the J&J vaccine in its mass inoculation program, Prime Minister Erna Solberg reported. On May 10, a public panel of medical, legal and other experts said the vaccine should not be offered as part of the national immunization plan, although volunteers should be allowed to take it.

A government-appointed commission recommended that the drug be excluded from the Norwegian program because of the risk of rare side effects. Despite the EMA’s approval, the country has so far not used the US single-dose vaccine, although Solberg has clarified that the government will stockpile J&J injections, mainly as a back-up to ’emergency.

Norway currently only uses immunizers made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech and expects all adults to be offered at least one dose by the end of July. So far, a third of Norwegian adults have received the first of two doses.

The health ministry said volunteers who want to speed up their vaccination will be able to apply J&J once guidelines for its use have been approved.