FILE PHOTO: A medical worker prepares a dose of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Antwerp, Belgium March 18, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman
COPENHAGEN—Denmark on Saturday reported two cases of hospital staff with blood clots and cerebral hemorrhage after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination.
The Capital Region of Denmark, the authority that runs public hospitals in Copenhagen, said that one of the hospital staff had died and both had received the AstraZeneca vaccine less than 14 days before getting ill.
The Danish medicines agency confirmed it had received two ‘serious reports’, without giving further details.
There were no details of when the hospital staff got ill.
Some countries including Germany and France this week reversed their decision to temporarily pause use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of cases of rare brain blood clots sent scientists and governments scrambling to determine any link.
Denmark, which put use of the vaccine on hold on March 11, has not yet resumed use.
The European Union’s drug watchdog said on Thursday it is still convinced the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks following an investigation into reports of blood clots that prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend its use.
European Medicines Agency (EMA) director Emer Cooke said on Thursday the watchdog could not definitively rule out a link between blood clot incidents and the vaccine in its investigation into 30 cases of a rare blood clotting condition.
But she said the “clear” conclusion of the review was that the benefits in protecting people from the risk of death or hospitalization outweigh the possible risks. The issue deserves further analysis, the EMA said.
AstraZeneca, which developed the shot with Oxford University, has said a review covering more than 17 million people who had received its shots in the EU and Britain had found no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.