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NICOSIA, March 15 (Reuters) - Cyprus suspended AstraZeneca
shots for COVID-19 on Monday pending a review by the European
Medicines Agency (EMA), its health ministry said.
The suspension, which followed a similar move on Monday by
Germany, France and Italy, will last until March 18, when the
EMA is due to issue a review of the vaccine following reports of
thrombosis among some recipients in Europe, the ministry said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no
proven link and that people should not panic.
Cyprus' inoculation programme with vaccines from
Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna will continue, the health ministry
said. There have been no publicly reported cases of any side
effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine in Cyprus.
Norway and Denmark stopped giving AstraZeneca shots last
week after reporting isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and
a low platelet count. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit and
Ireland and the Netherlands announced suspensions on Sunday.
Spain will stop administering the vaccine for at least 15
days, Cadena Ser radio reported, citing unnamed sources.
The top WHO scientist reiterated on Monday that there have
been no documented deaths linked to any COVID-19 vaccines.
(Writing By Michele Kambas
Editing by Gareth Jones)
