Muqeem Ahmad, UK,

Corona virus vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca is in big trouble۔ The Irish Ministry of Health has suspended the use of Oxford AstraZeneca following blood clotting incidents in Norway. Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly called it a precautionary measure. On the other hand, the Netherlands has stopped vaccination from Sunday to March 29, resultant 45,000 appointments have been canceled.

Earlier, Denmark, Norway and Iceland had suspended the use of AstraZeneca pending an investigation.

Italy, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Luxemburg and Lithonia have banned the use of a specific batch of AstraZeneca containing one million doses and shipped to 17 countries.

Vaccine maker AstraZeneca says the vaccine is based on high-quality research and compliance with global testing standards, and that there have been no adverse effects from the use of the vaccine.

World health organization has ruled out the risk of blood clots from use of AstraZeneca vaccine and has advised these countries to continue using vaccine.

According to a spokesman for European Medicines Agency, 5 million people who have been vaccinated so far, only 30 have reported blood clots and the benefits cannot be ignored.

The UK government has decided to continue using the vaccine. According to a government spokesman, the vaccine is effective and safe and citizens should be vaccinated with confidence.

This post was originally published on VOSA.