Germany, France, Italy suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine

Italys medicines regulator on Monday announced the precautionary temporary ban on using AstraZenecas coronavirus vaccine amid new reports of people developing dangerous blood clots after taking the shotItalys Aifa said the decision ldquowas taken in line with similar measures adopted by other European countriesrdquoIt added that ldquofurther looking into the matter is currently underwayrdquo The announcement followed by a day the latest known death of a person in Italy shortly after receiving the vaccine A 57yearold clarinet teacher who received the vaccine in the northern Piedmont region on Saturday evening as part of a national rollout for teachers died at home early Sunday morningAutopsies have been ordered for that death as well as to a handful of other deaths last week of others in Italy who had received the vaccineFrance and Germany also suspended the vaccines use on Monday AstraZeneca and global health authorities insist the shot is safe French President Emmanuel Macron says that France is suspending the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine use out of precautionMacron told a news conference Monday that French authorities have decided to suspend shots at least until Tuesday afternoon when the European Medicines Agency will issue its recommendation over the vaccine He didnt elaborate on the reasons for the decision He said France hopes to be able to vaccine again with AstraZeneca shots ldquosoonrdquoOther countries including Germany on Monday said it would temporarily halt the use of the vaccine as a precaution amid reports that some people developed blood clots after receiving the shot AstraZeneca and global health authorities insist the shot is safeGermany on Monday became the biggest country in Europe to suspend use of AstraZenecas COVID19 vaccine over reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients though the company and European regulators said there is no evidence the shot is to blameThe countrys health minister said the decision was taken on the advice of Germanys national vaccine regulator the Paul Ehrlich Institute which called for further investigation into seven reported cases of clots in the brains of people who had been vaccinatedldquoTodays decision is a purely precautionary measurerdquo Jens Spahn saidSeveral countries starting with Denmark last week have temporarily halted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days to investigate cases of blood clots that occurred after vaccination They include Ireland Thailand the Netherlands Norway Iceland Congo and BulgariaLast week Germany was one of several nations that stuck by the shotBlood clots can travel through the body and cause heart attacks strokes and deadly blockages in the lungsAstraZeneca has said that there is no cause for concern with its vaccine and that there were fewer reported thrombosis cases in those who received the shot than in the general populationThe European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization have also said that the data does not suggest the vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunizedSpahn the German health minister said of the decision to suspend the AstraZeneca shot ldquoThe most important thing for confidence is transparencySpahn said the European Medicines Agency would determine whether and how the new information will affect the authorization of the vaccine across the continent and expressed hope that the Amsterdambased regulator would make a decision on the issue this weekAccording to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control Germany has received slightly over 3 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine Spahn said about 16 million doses of the shot have so far been administered in the countryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever