UPDATE - Slovenia Suspends Use Of AstraZeneca Vaccine, Waiting For EMA Decision - Health Minister

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2021) Slovenia is temporarily halting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 until the European Medicines Agency (EMA) makes a final decision on the matter, Minister of Health Janez Poklukar said.

"Due to many doubts about the AstraZeneca vaccine, we asked an expert group to shake up all the details again. It found that there were no professional reservations about continuing the vaccination. ...Nevertheless, as a precaution, it suggests that we temporarily suspend the vaccination with AstraZeneca. At least until the final decision of the EMA," Poklukar said on Monday at a press conference broadcast on the Slovenian Health Ministry's twitter page.

The health minister specified that until a final EMA decision is made regarding the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, all Slovenians scheduled to get shots will get inoculated with a different coronavirus vaccine.

Meanwhile the Slovak State Institute for Drug Control (SIDC) recommended to continue the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, citing a shortage of vaccines and a lack of substantial evidence for the link between blood clotting incidents and AstraZeneca shots.

Last week, media reported that a teacher died at the age of 38 in Slovakia two weeks after being inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

According to preliminary data, the teacher died of cerebral edema, thrombophilia, and pulmonary embolism. Her father believes that the death was caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine. In total, the Slovak authorities have received more than 800 reports about adverse side effects after AstraZeneca vaccination.

Many countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland and Norway have temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after citizens reported side-effects, particularly blood clots, from getting the shots.

Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said on Puls 24 tv on Monday that the final decision on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe should be made by the EMA.

The UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Sunday that it had found no evidence of increased risk of blood clots from its COVID-19 vaccine after conducting a review of safety data of over 17 million inoculated people across the European Union and the United Kingdom.

The EMA said in a statement on Monday that it was still investigating the possible link between the AstraZeneca shots and the increased occurrence of blood clots.