(Adds statement by Italy's medicines authority Aifa)
ROME, March 14 (Reuters) - Italy's northern region of
Piedmont said on Sunday it would stop using a batch of
AstraZeneca coronavirus shots after a teacher died
following his vaccination on Saturday.
The region, around the northern city of Turin, had initially
suspended all AstraZeneca vaccines in order to identify and
isolate the batch from which the jab administered to the
teacher, from the town of Biella, came.
The decision, following similar moves elsewhere in Europe,
was precautionary and the region is awaiting the results of
checks which will verify whether there is a connection between
the death and the vaccination, the regional government said in
an online statement.
The statement did not specify what batch it had banned nor
did it say how the teacher died. Italian newspapers reported it
was batch ABV5811 and a source close to the regional government
confirmed it.
"It is an act of extreme prudence, while we verify whether
there is a connection. There have been no critical issues with
the administration of vaccines to date," Luigi Genesio Icardi,
head of regional health services, said in the statement.
Italy's medicines authority Aifa said later on Sunday that
alarm over the safety of the AstraZeneca doses was not justified
and that no link had been proved between the deaths and the
administration of the jabs.
Aifa added in the statement that the monitoring of all side
effects linked to vaccinations was ongoing, both on a national
and a European level, with the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
On Thursday the regulator banned the use of doses of the
AstraZeneca vaccine belonging to the ABV2856 batch. Sources told
Reuters the decision had been taken after the deaths of two men
in Sicily.
Aifa had said that the ban was precautionary, adding that no
link had been established between the vaccine and subsequent
"serious adverse events".
Authorities in Denmark, Norway and Iceland have suspended
the use of the vaccine over blood clotting issues, while Austria
stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca shots last week while
investigating a death from coagulation disorders.
The EMA has said there is no indication that the events were
caused by the vaccination, a view that was echoed by the World
Health Organisation on Friday.
AstraZeneca also said it had found no evidence of increased
risk of deep-vein thrombosis.
Ireland also temporarily suspended AstraZeneca's vaccine
"out of an abundance of caution" on Sunday, citing reports from
the Norwegian Medicines Agency regarding a cluster of serious
blood clotting in some recipients there.
Earlier on Sunday, Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza
said vaccines in Italy and Europe were "effective and safe",
with all checks being carried out, when asked in an interview
about the ban.
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Nick Macfie, Jane
Merriman and Daniel Wallis)