AstraZeneca says no evidence of clot risk as more vaccinations halted

AstraZeneca said on Sunday there is "no evidence" its Covid-19 vaccine increases the risk of blood clots, as Ireland joined a number of European countries suspending its use as a precautionary step.

Officials in the Netherlands, Ireland and one region of Italy temporarily halted AstraZeneca vaccinations following reports of clotting and the death of a teacher in Italy given the Covid-19 jab.

Italy's Piedmont region announced on Sunday it was suspending AstraZeneca vaccinations out of "extreme caution" until they find out if the vaccination is linked to teacher's death.

Luigi Genesio Icardi, the northern Italian region's health commissioner, said the death of the teacher in the town of Biella was Piedmont's first encounter with a suspected problem with the vaccine.

But hours later, Piedmont officials resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations using different batches of vaccine, after identifying the batch used on the deceased teacher.

On Sunday night Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said the Netherlands would suspend AstraZeneca vaccinations for two weeks as a precautionary measure based on "new information" from Norway and Denmark.

"We must always err on the side of caution, which is why it's wise to hit the pause button now," the minister said in a statement.

Earlier in the day officials in Ireland said they were suspending AstraZeneca vaccinations based on four new reports of "blood clotting events" in Norway.

Ireland later noted a "small number" of blood clots following vaccinations, however the country's Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) said the reported clots were not of the nature described by officials in Norway.

AstraZeneca responded with a statement saying it had carried out "a careful review" of the available data on those who have received the AstraZeneca jab in Britain and the European Union.

"Around 17 million people in the EU and UK have now received our vaccine, and the number of cases of blood clots reported in this group is lower than the hundreds of cases that would be expected among the general population," Chief Medical Officer Ann Taylor said in a statement.

'Individual cases'

"The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond the standard practices for safety monitoring of licensed medicines in reporting vaccine events, to ensure public safety."

Britain's medicines regulator also said that evidence does not suggest the AstraZeneca vaccine is causing blood clots, according to PA news agency.

Bulgaria, Denmark and Iceland had joined Norway in suspending the vaccine's use on Thursday while research is conducted into possible health problems.

The halt is expected to further delay Europe's sluggish vaccine rollout, while critics say it may reduce the public's trust in the AstraZeneca vaccine.

On Friday, Italy's medicines agency Aifa stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca doses after a soldier died in Sicily. A link between vaccination and death has not yet been established.

On a national level, Italy's government is sticking with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and Health Minister Robert Speranza stressed in a Sunday interview with La Repubblica newspaper that all vaccines in Italy and Europe are "effective and safe."