Sweden on Tuesday became the latest to join a growing list of countries to suspend use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. More than a dozen nations, most of them in Europe, have temporarily halted use of the vaccine as a precautionary measure after a small number of people developed blood clots after getting the shot.
But experts in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe are calling it a disaster for the continent's already-delayed vaccine roll-out. COVID-19 infections are spreading exponentially again in some parts of Europe, even prompting new nationwide lockdowns.
British drug regulators and AstraZeneca executives insist there is no link between the Oxford University-developed vaccine and a higher incidence of blood clots.
The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company that teamed up with the prestigious university to produce the drug has said that a review of 17 million people in the U.K. and Europe who've received the vaccine found that fewer than 40 developed blood clots — "even lower than you'd expect to find in the general population," AstraZeneca said.
The incidence of clotting is similar to that seen with all vaccines, CBS News has found, including the Moderna and Pfizer formulas currently being used in the U.S.
Denmark, Iceland and Norway were among the first to halt use of the Oxford University-developed vaccine on March 11. The following day, Thailand abruptly slammed the brakes on the vaccine just before it was set to be rolled out.
That decision was reversed on Tuesday as the Thai Prime Minister got his first dose of the vaccine and urged his fellow Thais to do the same.
Bulgaria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain have also decided to suspend use of the vaccine, with some saying they would wait at least until the European Medicines Agency — the EU's pharmaceutical regulator — issues new guidance on the vaccine it approved weeks ago. The agency's expert panel was gathering Tuesday to review data on clots.