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ROME, April 14 (Reuters) - Italy said on Wednesday it had
suspended the use of some 184,000 shots of the Johnson & Johnson
COVID-19 vaccine, after the brand delayed its
introduction in Europe following a health scare in the United
States.
The first shipment of vaccines from the U.S. company reached
Italy on Tuesday, but for now it will not be distributed to
regional centres, the office of the country's COVID special
commissioner said.
National authorities around Europe have taken differing
approaches after U.S. health agencies recommended pausing the
use of the vaccine after rare blood-clotting issues were
reported. Greece decided to put its use on hold, while Belgium
and France said they would go ahead with it.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said it expects to
issue a recommendation on J&J next week. Italian regulators have
already said they could limit its use to people over the age of
60.
The single-shot J&J vaccine was considered crucial to speed
up Italy's vaccination campaign, which has suffered supply
delays and was already slowed by blood-clotting concerns linked
to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Use of AstraZeneca's vaccine was suspended for three days in
Italy in mid-March and is now recommended only for people aged
over 60.
"Possible age restrictions on J&J's vaccine could have the
same disruptive effect they had in the AstraZeneca case," said
Alessio D'Amato, the health chief of the Lazio region around
Rome. "There is a risk of seriously damaging the vaccination
campaign."
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; editing by Gavin Jones, Larry
King)
