Slovenia, Portugal and Latvia join European club to suspend AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Following the lead of several European countries, Slovenia, Portugal and Latvia have also suspended the administration of AstraZeneca jabs amid fear of blood clots on Monday. 

Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Ireland were followed by Germany, France, Italy and Spain in announcing similar decisions earlier, reported AFP. 

While the European Medicines Agency is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday, the World Health Organization has urged countries to continue the vaccination drive “for the time being”.  

Also Read: WHO urges countries to continue taking AstraZeneca jabs amid fears of clotting

EMA will be discussing if certain measures need to be put in place after some people developed blood clots post getting the AstraZeneca jabs. 

Slovenia Health Minister Janez Poklukar said that this is a precautionary measure until the EMA gives a statement, explaining that “there is no medical expertise justifying this halt.”

Also Read: Spain follows major European countries to suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine

Meanwhile, Portugal has already administered  400,000 doses and has an addition 200,000 jabs in store. Graca Freitas, the Portugal Health chief said they stopped the vaccine rollout as a precaution after reports of “serious but rare” side effects. 

The Baltic state’s health agencies said in a joint statement that Latvia’s “health authorities are asking doctors not to use the opened vials of the AstraZeneca vaccine and not to open new ones. ” 

They have halted the use of the vaccine “as a precautionary measure” based on reports of side effects in other European countries but also said no such cases have been confirmed in Latvia. The suspension will be in place for two weeks.