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(Recasts to focus on regions suspending AstraZeneca shot)
MADRID, March 12 (Reuters) - Four Spanish regions have
stopped administering doses from a batch of AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccine following reports of the formation of
blood clots in some people who had been vaccinated, although the
central government plans to keep using the shot.
Austria earlier stopped using the batch of AstraZeneca shots
while it investigated a death from clotting and a case of
pulmonary embolism.
Several Nordic countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca
vaccine on Thursday and Spain's central Castille and Leon region
decided on Friday to also stop using it as a precaution.
Officials in Andalusia, Asturias and the Canary Islands said
they would not use shots from the suspect batch but would
continue giving jabs from other deliveries.
None of the regions has detected any severe adverse effects.
A police union said most of the doses from the batch in
question went to police officers and asked the Health Ministry
to monitor them closely.
Health Minister Carolina Darias said authorities had only
detected light side effects such as headaches, dizziness and
intestinal troubles, while the frequency of blood clots among
vaccinated people was no higher than among the general
population.
In a statement on Thursday, AstraZeneca said it had found no
evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein
thrombosis in safety data of more than 10 million records.
The World Health Organization is looking into the issue but
said there was no reason not to use the drug, while Europe's EMA
medicines regulator backed it and said the benefits outweigh the
risks.
Darias said Spain would continue to administer the
AstraZeneca vaccine until it received further guidance from the
EMA.
Her ministry has administered some 5.2 million doses of
coronavirus vaccine, around 15% of which were made by
AstraZeneca.
Since taming a third wave that peaked in late January,
Spain's infection rate has fallen to its lowest since August but
the rate of decline is slowing.
The government reported 5,348 new cases on Friday, bringing
the total to nearly 3.2 million. Deaths increased by 173 to
72,258.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, Emma Pinedo and Nathan Allen;
Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
