Indonesia became the seventh country globally to officially suspend the AstraZeneca vaccine, following reports indicating dangerous complications such as thrombosis or blood clots.
On Monday, the Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin announced that his country would suspend the vaccine, adding that Indonesia is awaiting a review from the World Health Organization on the issue.
The European Medicines Agency previously stated that there was no link between receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots.
The company that produced the vaccine on Sunday confirmed that its review did not reveal any increased risk of strokes due to the use of its vaccine.
“A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country,” its statement read.
The World Health Organization supported the statements of the European Medicines Agency last Friday.
Before Indonesia, the Netherlands and Ireland suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine temporarily following reports of blood clots in Norway.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Ireland Ronan Glynn explained the suspension was made after the Norwegian Medicines Agency reported four cases of blood clots among adults after receiving the vaccine. He added that although there is no conclusive link between the vaccine and blood clots, Irish health officials have recommended that the vaccine be suspended as a precaution.
Authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland have suspended vaccine use due to clotting problems.
The Danish Medicines Agency said that a 60-year-old citizen died of blood clots after being injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to the agency, she showed “very strange” symptoms, the number of blood platelets in her body was low, she was found to have clots in small and large blood vessels and she suffered from hemorrhage.
Austria also stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca last week pending an investigation into a death caused by blood clotting disorders.
