Several German states are allowing vaccinations against COVID-19 to begin in a limited number of private medical practices with the aim of expanding venues that offer the vaccines beyond the current mass vaccination centers. SENFTENBERG, GERMANY - MARCH 03: Doctor Claudia Richartz (L) and an assistant finish inoculating a health care worker against COVID-19 with the AstraZeneca vaccine at her private practice as part of a pilot project in the state of Brandenburg during the coronavirus pandemic on Main Senftenberg, Germany. The Danish Medicines Agency said on Monday the woman in question had an “unusual” combination of symptoms before she died. Nonetheless, the death of one woman in Denmark prompted a number of countries to pause their rollouts until reviews have been conducted. It found that of those millions of people, there have been 15 events of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 22 events of pulmonary embolism reported after vaccination lower than the number that would be expected to occur naturally within that population size. Spahn said he spoke with his counterpart in the UK before halting Germany’s rollout.ĪstraZeneca doubled down on the safety of its shots Sunday, saying that a careful review of the 17 million people inoculated with it in the EU and Britain found again that there was “no evidence” of a link with clots. More than 11 million AstraZeneca jabs have been delivered in the UK, which is now one of few major European countries still backing the vaccine. “While its investigation is ongoing, EMA currently remains of the view that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the agency said. The EMA also reiterated that countries should continue their rollouts, adding that it would meet on Thursday to discuss the concerns but that the benefit of vaccinations outweigh any potential risks. The organization added it was assessing the latest reports, but said any change in its recommendations would be “unlikely.” “As of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and stem severe disease from the virus,” the WHO said in a statement to CNN. The suspensions go against the advice of the World Health Organization, the EMA and the pharmaceutical giant itself, all of whom have said there is no evidence of a link with clotting and that rollouts should continue while the reports are investigated. Another death was also reported in Norway on Monday, along with a handful of non-fatal cases in both countries. Much of Europe has now halted the shot for the time being, following the fatality of one woman in Denmark that has yet to be linked to a vaccine. Ireland halts use of AstraZeneca vaccine following blood clot reports in Norway (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Alessandra Tarantino/AP Italy’s medicines agency also suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine “as a precaution and temporarily,” prior to the EMA meeting, the Italian medicines agency AIFA announced Monday.Ī health worker shows the media how she prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered to a patient at a vaccination center set up in front of Rome's Termini central station, Monday, March 8, 2021. The suspensions came hours after prosecutors in northern Italy ordered a batch of the vaccine to be seized, citing a man who fell ill and died after taking a shot. “We have decided to suspend the use of AstraZeneca as a precautionary measure and are hoping to resume it quickly if the EMA’s advice allows it,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at Monday news conference. It’s a “temporary and precautionary” suspension, she said, “until the risks can be evaluated by the European Medicines Agency.”Īfter initially standing by the safety of the vaccine, German health minister Jens Spahn said Monday that the country would pause inoculations as a precaution, following reports of a handful of cases of blood clots in people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot in Denmark and Norway.įrance and Italy also halted their rollouts of the vaccine Monday, pending review by the EU’s medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), although the body later reiterated its advice that countries stick to the rollout. Spain will stop using the vaccine for two weeks, the country’s Health Minister Carolina Darias announced in a nationally televised news conference Monday. Spain, Germany, France and Italy have become the latest European countries to temporarily halt the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine over a small number of blood clot concerns, going against the advice of international medical agencies as a third wave of infections looms over the continent.
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