Denmark suspends Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine following patient death

Denmark has suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine as a precaution following a patient death after reportedly suffering from blot clots following his inoculation.

At least five other nations have suspended the use of the vaccine after reports of blood clots started surfacing, which caught the eye of the EU's drug watchdog, the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

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Søren Brostrøm, director of the National Board of Health, Denmark's health authority, said: “Right now we need all the vaccines we can get. Therefore, putting one of the vaccines on pause is not an easy decision.

“But precisely because we vaccinate so many, we also need to respond with timely care when there is knowledge of possible serious side effects. We need to clarify this before we can continue to use the vaccine from AstraZeneca.” 

This comes following similar reports from Austria which has to lead to the halting of specific batches in the country. However, Denmark is the first nation to suspend every vaccine from AstraZeneca.

The EMA released a statement on Wednesday saying that current evidence suggests there is no link between the vaccines and developing blood clots.

The current reports of clots are no higher than in the general population, it added.

“There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine,” the EMA said.

Despite this, the body is continuing its investigation into the jabs to know for certain.

Other countries that have suspended the use of a batch of the vaccine are Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Latvia.

AstraZeneca is aware of the concerns and has confirmed the safety of its users remains its "highest priority."

In a statement, the company announced: “Regulators have clear and stringent efficacy and safety standards for the approval of any new medicine, and that includes our vaccine.

“The safety of the vaccine has been extensively studied in phase 3 clinical trials and peer-reviewed data confirms the vaccine has been generally well tolerated."

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No deaths have been directly attributed to any of the major Covid vaccines as of yet.

There have been scattered reports of deaths from people recovering after having received the vaccine, but these have generally been attributed to conditions the patient suffered from prior to getting the vaccine, such as with the case of a 49-year-old woman who died as a result of severe coagulation disorders.

The EMA has announced the batch frozen by these countries contains a total of one million doses which have been shipped to 17 EU member states.

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