3 European Countries To Stop Inoculating AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine

Three powerful countries from Europe have decided to stop administering the novel coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca. This after several nations reported that the said vaccine causes serious side effects to people.

Germany, France, and Italy are temporarily halting the inoculation of AstraZeneca vaccine to its people, making the vaccination program more difficult to pull off.

Denmark and Norway already stopped distributing the vaccine last week after receiving reports of bleeding, blood clots, and a low platelet count from citizens who had been vaccinated already. Spain will also reportedly stop using the vaccine for at least 15 days.

Jens Spahn, the health minister of Germany, said that the decision to stop the inoculation of AstraZeneca vaccine is a "professional decision" and not a political one.

French President Emmanuel Macron also aired his side regarding the much-talked-about action to suspend the use of AstraZeneca shots.

"The decision taken, in conformity also with our European policy, is to suspend, out of precaution, vaccination with the AZ shot, hoping that we can resume quickly if the EMA's guidance allows," the President quipped.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) insisted that there was no proven link between the vaccine and the alleged serious side effects, so people should not panic.

Soumya Swaminathan, a top scientist, working for WHO, also mentioned that there are no documented deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccines as of the moment.

For Christian Lindmeier, the spokesperson of WHO, the worldwide vaccination program against COVID-19 must continue because there has been no evidence that serious complications are caused by the vaccine. He even emphasized that vaccination is very important in saving lives and stemming severe disease from the virus.

AstraZeneca has one of the first and cheapest vaccines to be developed and distributed to other countries. Millions of people from various parts of the world have already been vaccinated using it. It is recommended to be used first to health workers at high risk of exposure and to people aging 65 or older.