The first European country to permanently abandon the AstraZeneca vaccine

COPENHAGEN.- Denmark has decided to permanently abandon the vaccine against the coronavirus AstraZeneca due to its “rare” but “serious” side effectshealth officials announced on Wednesday, making it the first European country to do so.

Despite the opinions of the European regulator (European Medicines Agency, EMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in favor of its use, “The vaccination campaign in Denmark continues without the AstraZeneca vaccine”National Health Agency director Soren Brostrom said at a press conference.

The use of AstraZeneca in Denmark was discontinued on March 11, to explore possible links between the vaccine and clot episodes.

The approximately 150,000 people who have received a dose of this vaccine will be offered another for their second dose, officials said. Denmark was the first country in Europe to completely halt use of the vaccine on March 11, after reports of rare cases of blood clots, associated with low platelet counts and bleeding.

Despite a favorable opinion from the EMA for its use, the country had maintained its suspension, just like Norway, choosing to deepen its investigation into the relationship between these few serious cases and vaccination. If on April 8 the EMA confirmed the existence of serious but rare cases of thrombosis, it considered that the benefits of the vaccine always outweighed the risks.

Most European countries that had suspended the use of the vaccine have resumed it, in most cases with an age limit. For its part, South Africa also gave up in February, its effectiveness being questioned given the variable that prevails in the country. The United States, like Switzerland, has not yet authorized it. The vaccine drop represents a at least three week extension of the Danish vaccination program, which provided for immunization of all over 16s by July.

Germany

Meanwhile, those under 60 vaccinated in Germany against Covid-19 with one dose of AstraZeneca will receive the second with another vaccine, the federal and regional ministries of health decided yesterday. On March 30, Germany decided to limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to those under the age of 60, after some cases of thrombosis were recorded in Europe.

People in this age group who received a first dose from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory before that date will have a second from BioNTech / Pfizer or Moderna, also available in Germany, they decided after a meeting.

Agencia AFP

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