COVID-19: Sweden is latest European country to stop using AstraZeneca vaccine

After Germany, France and Italy on Monday (March 15) joined the list of European nations which have stopped the rollouts of AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot fears, Sweden's health agency said on Tuesday ( March 16) it was pausing vaccinations against COVID-19 using AstraZeneca's vaccine as a precautionary measure.

"The Swedish Public Health Agency has decided to suspend the use of AstraZeneca's covid-19 vaccine until the European Medicines Agency's investigation into suspected side effects is done," the Health Agency said in a statement.

Sweden's Nordic neighbours Denmark and Norway have reported isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count after inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Swedish Medical Products Agency said on Monday it had recorded 10 cases of blood clots and one case of low levels of platelets among people who were given the AstraZeneca vaccine, but not in combination.

Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Latvia also joined Germany, Italy and France to stop the AstraZeneca vaccine rollouts.

The WHO, however, asserted that it is not wise to stop the use of AstraZeneca vaccine, adding that the global health body had called a meeting of its experts on Tuesday to hold a discussion over this matter.

"We do not want people to panic and we would, for the time being, recommend that countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca," WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said, adding, "So far, we do not find an association between these events and the vaccine," she said.

(With Reuters inputs)