(Corrects first paragraph, quote to refer to "other countries",
not "poorer countries")
ZURICH, April 15 (Reuters) - Denmark is examining options
for sharing AstraZeneca's vaccines with other nations
after it halted use of the shots over concerns about rare blood
clots, the World Health Organization's Europe head said on
Thursday.
Denmark this week became the first country to stop using
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine altogether, as European officials
investigate reports of rare blood clots combined with low
platelet counts that have occurred in Europe and Britain.
The decision has sparked some debate in Denmark about what
to do with the leftover vaccines. Opposition parties argue the
authorities should make the shots available to Danes willing to
take it.
Denmark currently has just over 200,000 vaccines, but is set
to receive another 3.5 million from previous agreements, the
State Serum Institute told Reuters.
The Danish Health Ministry was not immediately available for
comment.
The WHO, which along with Britain and the European Medicines
Agency (EMA) continue to recommend AstraZeneca's shot on the
grounds that the benefits outweigh the risks, has been pushing
countries not to hoard vaccines that they are not using.
World Bank President David Malpass also called on countries
on Thursday to contribute their "excess" doses of COVID-19
vaccines to low-income countries.
The lion's share of vaccines distributed globally, so far,
have gone to wealthier nations.
"I understand that the ministry of foreign affairs of
Denmark is ready to, or looking already into options, for
sharing AstraZeneca vaccines with other countries," WHO Europe
Director Hans Kluge told reporters.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said her country
would gladly take the shots: "We still have less vaccines then
people willing to be vaccinated. Therefore, Lithuania has
expressed readiness to take as many doses of Astra Zeneca, as
Denmark is ready to share."
WHO and EMA have said every nation should make decisions
about their vaccination programs based on their rates of
vaccination, infection and hospitalisation.
Danish Health Authority director Soren Brostrom said on
Wednesday his country had come far in inoculating the elderly
population most at risk of contracting a serious form of
COVID-19, and that younger groups were at lower risk of
complications from the disease. That had to be weighed against
the possible vaccine side effects, he said.
(Reporting by John Miller in Zurich and Gabriela Baczynska in
Brussels; Editing by Alison Williams and Keith Weir)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
