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Sweden’s health authority said on Tuesday it was pausing use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as a “precautionary measure,” pending an investigation by Europe’s drug regulator into possible side effects following reports of blood clots in people that had received the shot.
“There is good knowledge about this vaccine, but it is still important that we pause the vaccination until the EMA [European Medicines Agency] has investigated whether these events could be linked to the jabs,” said Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist.
The decision comes after major European countries — including Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands — moved to pause the administration of AstraZeneca’s vaccine over safety fears.
Both the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency have said there is no link between AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which the Anglo-Swedish drug company has developed with University of Oxford researchers, and reported blood clots.
Emer Cooke, executive director of the EMA, reiterated the message on Tuesday, saying that there is “no indication” the AstraZeneca vaccine has caused blood clot incidents.
“We are still firmly convinced that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweigh the risk of these side effects,” Cooke said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
The WHO’s vaccine safety experts are due to meet later on Tuesday to discuss the vaccine. The EMA’s safety committee has called an extraordinary meeting for Thursday to decide on any further recommendations.
“ “We are still firmly convinced that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalization and death, outweigh the risk of these side effects” ”
Cooke added that the number of thromboembolic cases seems to be no higher than that seen in the general population.
AstraZeneca AZN, +3.15% said on Sunday that it had conducted a review covering more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the U.K. which had shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.
Shares in AstraZeneca AZN, +3.97%, which have fallen by 1.52% so far this year, were trading 3.35% higher in late morning London trading on Tuesday.
Read: Buy AstraZeneca on possibly ‘underwhelming’ vaccine trial data, Jefferies says
The European suspensions will increase pressure on the 27-member bloc’s inoculation efforts, which have been plagued by supply shortages, partly due to manufacturing issues at some plants in the bloc.
Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine have all said they would continue to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine, while Thailand announced that it would start using the vaccine on Tuesday, following a brief delay to the rollout over safety concerns.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood by AstraZeneca’s vaccine, saying that health experts and scientists had assured him all vaccines being administered in the country were safe and effective. “Therefore, the very best vaccine for you to take is the first one that is offered to you,” he said on Monday.
