VILNIUS, March 16 (Reuters) - In a change of policy,
Lithuania suspended use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19
vaccine as "a precaution" until the European Medicines Agency
gives a final evaluation of its safety, the country's Health
Minister Arturas Dulkys said on Tuesday evening.
"We are taking the decision now, because over the previous
few hours we have received three reports about serious,
unexpected, unwanted thromboembolic cases in patients who were
given the AstraZeneca vaccine in Lithuania", the head of the
country's medicine authority Gytis Andrulionis told reporters on
Tuesday.
"We do not have proof whether this is a coincidence or due
to the vaccine", he added.
On Tuesday morning Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida
Simonyte told the public broadcaster her government would not
suspend use of the vaccine, saying the harm due to the
disruption to vaccination would be worse.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
