Alex Trelinski
SPAIN has suspended the use of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines for the next 15 days after fatal blood clots were reported by people getting the COVID-19 jab in Scandinavia.
The announcement was made this evening(March 15) by the Health Ministry as a precaution and follows in the footsteps of suspensions by France, Germany, and Italy.
It’s a total reverse of the Spanish position after Health Minister, Carolina Darias, said at the weekend that the vaccine was ‘safe’ and that any decision on its use would be made on recommendations from the European Medicines Agency.
As of last Friday, 814,278 people in Spain had got the AstraZeneca injection with no serious side effects reported.
Over 5.2 million COVID-19 vaccinations have so far taken place in the country.
The EMA and the World Health Organisation have repeatedly stated there is no scientific basis to stop the inoculations, but the EU’s major countries have pressed the pause button.
Experts have stated that the number of blood clot cases are no different from those that would be suffered anyway within the population.
Last Friday, Andalucia, Castilla y León, the Canary Islands, Catalunya and the Valencian Community decided not to use the remaining several thousand AstraZeneca shots that belonged to a ‘suspected’ batch.
The EMA’s Marco Cavaleri told the European Parliament today: “We do not see any problem in continuing the vaccination campaign with AstraZeneca.”
