Denmark reports one death after AstraZeneca jab

Denmark on Saturday reported two cases of serious illness in persons who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jab. One person passed away while the other suffered from a cerebral haemorrhage. 

Copenhagen authorities than run public hospitals said that both individuals were hospital staff members and got vaccinated less than 14 days before falling ill, reported Reuters. 

Confirmed by the Danish Medicines Agency, there are no reports of when the hospital staff members fell sick. The DMA did not give any further details. It just said it received “serious reports”. 

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Amid widespread fears of the AstraZeneca vaccine reports of rare brain blood clots, many countries, including Denmark, suspended the use of the vaccine temporarily. 

Denmark paused the AstraZeneca vaccine jabs on March 11. 

While the EU regulators have cleared the vaccine after due deliberation discussion, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are yet to resume its use. The countries said on Friday that they required more time to make a decision.

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Tanja Erichsen, Acting director of Pharmacovigilance at the Danish Medicines Agency said, “We prioritize reports of suspected serious side effects such as these and examine them thoroughly to assess whether there is a possible link to the vaccine. We are in the process of dealing with the two specific cases.”

The World Health Organization has also been urging countries to resume using the AstraZeneca vaccine reiterating the importance of inoculation against COVID-19. 

Germany and France are among the countries that resumed the use of the vaccine this week. UK Prime Minister also received his first AstraZeneca jab this week.