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Denmark Pauses Use of AstraZeneca’s Coronavirus Shot to Look at Blood-Clot Reports

The country’s health agency made clear that it had not conclusively established a link between the clots and the vaccine.

Denmark is temporarily suspending its use of the AstraZeneca/University of Oxford coronavirus vaccine to give authorities time to investigate reports that blood clots formed in several people who had the shot. The country’s health agency made clear that it had not conclusively established a link between the clots and the vaccine—but it wants to rule out the possibility before more people receive the injections. One of the people who developed a blood clot after receiving the vaccine reportedly died. Søren Brostrøm, director of the National Board of Health in Denmark, said: “There is good evidence that the vaccine is both safe and effective. But both we and the Danish Medicines Agency have to react to reports of possible serious side effects, both from Denmark and other European countries.” AstraZeneca said in a statement to CNBC: “The safety of the vaccine has been extensively studied in Phase III clinical trials and peer-reviewed data confirms the vaccine is generally well tolerated.”