Norway

Ireland’s National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended that use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is temporarily suspended after Norwegian regulators reported “serious blood clotting events”. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that “following a report from the Norwegian Medicines Agency of four new reports of serious blood clotting events in adults after vaccination with Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca”, which involved younger people in their thirties and forties, it would be suspended use of the low-cost vaccine “pending receipt of further information”. The NIAC stressed that “It has not been concluded that there is any link between the COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca and these cases” but that it was “acting on the precautionary principle”. Dr Glynn told the Irish media that he hopes to “get more reassuring data” from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the coming days or weeks, at which point “we can we can recommence the programme”. STATEMENT: The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended that the administration of #COVID19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has been temporarily deferred from this morning, Sunday 14th March. pic.twitter.com/MAodFeVXb0 — Department of Health (@roinnslainte) March 14, 2021 Northern Ireland, which is one of the United Kingdom’s constituent Home Nations, will not be suspended use