Germany Suspends AstraZeneca Vaccine
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja with agency report
Germany has suspended the use of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
Germany’s move comes amid a growing health scare that is creating yet another delay in the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccthe European Union and other regions.
S Bloomberg report Monday said the country cited the recommendation of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which oversees vaccine safety, quoting a statement from the health ministry on Monday.
The report said that Germany joined about a dozen places, including Northern Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland, that had halted use of the product amid reports of serious blood clotting.
“It’s yet another blow to a vaccination campaign that’s proving embarrassingly slow and politically damaging for governments across the EU,” the Bloomberg report noted.
It said that while regulators had tried to reassure the public about safety of the AstraZeneca shot, concerns eere growing. Some Italian regions are reporting a high level of cancellations of vaccine appointments where the dose offered is the Astra one.
Authorities in Italy have also seized hundreds of thousands of Astra shots as part of their response,” it said.
