Portugal has followed the lead of other EU countries and stopped rolling out AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine after reports of “serious but rare” side effects, health chief Graca Freitas said on Monday.
The decision was taken “as a precaution” pending advice from the EU’s regulator, said Freitas, head of Portugal’s public health agency the DGS.
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The European Medicines Agency will hold a special meeting on Thursday to decide whether measures are needed over concerns that some people developed blood clots after being inoculated.
The World Health Organization said countries should continue to use the jab, adding that it would convene its expert panel on Tuesday to review the safety of the vaccine.
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Portugal has already administered some 400,000 doses of the vaccine and has 200,000 in stock, Henrique Gouveia Melo, head of the vaccination programme, told a news conference.
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Bulgaria on Friday suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as it investigated the death of a woman with several underlying conditions who received the jab this week.
The temporary suspension follows other countries in Europe, including Denmark, Iceland and Norway, which paused AstraZeneca vaccinations over safety concerns.
“I order a halt in vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine until the European Medicines Agency dismisses all doubts about its safety,” said a government press service statement quoting Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
The prime minister requested “a written statement with an accurate and clearly confirmed diagnosis — can we or can we not administer it”, the statement added.
Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said the halt was in response to the death of a woman in the central city of Plovdiv.
Angelov said the 57-year-old woman passed away at 3:00 am Friday after receiving the jab around noon on Thursday.
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