The Netherlands will ban the administration of the vaccine produced by Oxford and AstraZeneca to people over 60 as a "precaution". The news was announced by the government of the country through a press release made on Friday.
The report mentions five cases of blood clots among women between the ages of 25 and 65 who were vaccinated with AstraZeneca. The cases were reported by Lareb, the on-site drug watchdog. The statement acknowledged the European Medicines Agency (EMA) 's ongoing investigation into whether there was a causal link between the vaccine and thrombotic events.
"The critical question is whether these problems are related to the vaccine, or would be experienced by the citizens anyway. "Until we can answer this question, they have to choose care," said Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge, from Amsterdam.
He added that it would be a smart solution to press the suspension button already, as a precaution. But, he added that this will only happen to people under the age of 60.
The Netherlands has so far distributed about 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The move follows a decision by Germany and France to ban the vaccine for people under 60 on Tuesday.
