DENMARK ABANDONS 

ASTRAZENECA

CORONAVIRUS VACCINE 

AFTER RARE BLOOD CLOTS

By

Søren Nielsen

2021

People wait in an observation room after receiving coronavirus shots at a vaccination center in Copenhagen on April 12.

Danish health authorities decided Wednesday to permanently suspend the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine amid concerns that it causes blood clots in rare cases.

Denmark became the first European country to abandon the vaccine altogether after temporary suspensions in Europe last month following the discovery of rare and sometimes fatal blood clots among a small number of people who had received it. 

Most countries have resumed vaccinating with the AstraZeneca shots, many of them with restrictions that it be used only on older people, who appear less at risk for the blood clots.

The Danish move was a signal of the depth of concerns about the vaccine’s side effects in at least some European countries, given that the virus continues to spread across Europe despite the ongoing vaccination campaign. 

Any delay in inoculations could lead to more cases and more deaths. 

Danish authorities said the decision to stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine will probably delay their efforts by several weeks.

"Our overall assessment is there is a real risk of severe side effects associated with using the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca," 

Danish Health Authority Director General Søren Brostrøm said in a statement. 

"In the midst of an epidemic, it has been a difficult decision" to stop using the vaccine, he said.

But he said that Danish authorities believe they have the virus under control and that the oldest people most at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 have already been vaccinated, so the government has the flexibility to use only vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, which use a different technology and have not been connected to blood clots as side effects. 

Denmark plans to open vaccinations to all people older than 16 in late June and to finish vaccinating them by early August.

Two people in Denmark have died of blood clots that authorities believe may have been connected to the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

In Germany and Britain, authorities have identified about 30 cases of blood clots each among the millions of doses administered.

Why is Denmark stopping the AstraZeneca vaccine?

Danish officials said that all 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be withdrawn until further notice.

The Danish Health Authority said studies had shown a higher than expected frequency of blood clots following doses, affecting about one in 40,000 people.

It comes after two cases of thrombosis in Denmark were linked to vaccinations, AFP reported. 

One of the cases, in a 60 year old woman, was fatal.

Director General Søren Brostrøm said it had been a "difficult decision" but Denmark had other vaccines available and the epidemic there was currently under control.

"The upcoming target groups for vaccination are less likely to become severely ill from Covid-19," he said. 

"We must weigh this against the fact that we now have a known risk of severe adverse effects from vaccination with AstraZeneca, even if the risk in absolute terms is slight."

However, the authority said it could not rule out using it again at another time.

During the press conference the head of Denmark's Medicines Agency, Tanja Erichsen, fainted and was taken to hospital as a precaution. 

The agency later tweeted that she had recovered.

Almost one million people in Denmark have been vaccinated, with approximately 150,000 of them receiving the AstraZeneca jab. 

The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are also in use.

Some European countries have limited the use of adenovirus vaccines to older people, who have been less affected by the rare blood clotting condition.

After the Danish announcement, France said it viewed the AstraZeneca vaccine as an "essential tool".

"It is important that this vaccine continue to be deployed. It is a vaccine that is safe and works," a French government spokesman said.

France will also go ahead with plans to give the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to those aged over 55, the spokesman said. 

The country has already received 200,000 doses. 

Belgium will also give the doses it has received, while Greece and Italy will not.