Denmark Might Allow Offering AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine For Immunization - Reports

MURMANSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2021) The Danish Health Authority will not completely rule out the option for the country's citizens to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine if they want it, the Ritzau agency reported on Monday.

The vaccine, which uses an adenoviral vector, has gone under scrutiny following reports of some cases of post-shot blood-clotting, leading to its removal from vaccination campaigns in several European nations in March.

In particular, last week the Danish government announced its decision to halt the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout completely, leaving the national vaccine portfolio with two mRNA vaccines, namely, from Pfizer\BioNTech and Moderna.

According to the Ritzau media outlet, the Danish Health Authority on Monday voiced the decision of the country's parliament regarding the 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which had been delivered to Denmark even before the government decided to suspend use of the drug. Notably, according to media reports, to date some 150,000 Danish citizens have been administered the first dose of the suspended two-dose vaccine.

Citizens would have to consult with a doctor before choosing to get inoculated with the AstraZeneca, now called Vaxzevria, vaccine, the agency stated.

The outlet also noted that the authorities still did not recommend use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Europe's drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency, said it had found a possible link between AstraZeneca's vaccine and very rare blood-clots in some adults who had received the shot, but concluded the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risk.