Denmark will completely abandon the rollout of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine due to a risk of rare blood clots. One of the country’s top drug officials passed out at a press conference delivering the news.
As National Health Board Director Soeren Brostroem announced the decision, the Danish Medicines Agency’s acting director of pharmacovigilance, Tanja Erichsen, fainted and collapsed to the ground.
Erichsen’s fall sparked panic, as Brostroem and other officials rushed over to check on her. The medicines agency later announced that she had regained consciousness, but was taken to hospital for a checkup. No explanation was given for her fainting.
Denmark was the first country in the world to suspend the rollout of AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria shot in March, though a number of other countries followed suit, among them France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Denmark, however, is the first country in the world to permanently ditch the British-Swedish developed jab.
“In the midst of an epidemic, it has been a difficult decision to continue our vaccination program without an effective and readily available vaccine against Covid-19,” Brostroem said at the press conference. “However, we have other vaccines at our disposal, and the epidemic is currently under control.”
The suspension is expected to push the country’s vaccination timeline back by “some weeks,” according to a report from Danish broadcaster TV2.
Denmark began vaccinations in December, and has to date approved four vaccines – from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. Only two shots, from Moderna and Pfizer, are currently available to Danes, after Johnson & Johnson delayed its own European rollout on Tuesday, due to several cases of blood clots being reported in the US.
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