Ireland halts use of AstraZeneca vaccine
following blood clot reports in Norway
By Niamh Kennedy and Lindsay Isaac, CNN
Updated 0210 GMT (1010 HKT) March 15, 2021
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/14/euro ... index.html
Dublin, Ireland (CNN)Ireland temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday following a report from Norway of patients developing blood clots post inoculation.
The Norwegian Medicines Agency on Saturday said there were four new cases of serious blood clotting in adults after taking the vaccine.
The Irish National Immunization Advisory Committee (NIAC) made the directive as a precaution though it "has not been concluded that there is any link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and these cases," it said in a statement.
Ireland's NIAC is set to meet again Sunday to further discuss the suspension of the vaccine, it added.
Ireland is the latest in the string of European countries who have decided to partially or fully suspend the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of patients developing
blood clots after inoculations.
Health authorities in Austria were the first to sound the alarm on the potential dangers of the vaccine, suspending on Tuesday one batch of doses.
Italy on Friday banned the use of vaccines from a specific batch of AstraZeneca doses following the death of a serviceman in Sicily, who had died of cardiac arrest one day after receiving his first dose of the vaccine.
Denmark however on Thursday became the first European country to temporarily suspend the entire rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
