Many countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain have recently suspended their usage of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine. But why?

It began on Monday, when Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), the German authority for vaccines, paused usage of the vaccine as they claimed that "new reports of cases of cerebral vein thrombosis connected with an AstraZeneca vaccination,” like Minister Jens Spahn. The decision, they said, was not at all political.

Not too soon after, French President Emmanuel Macron suspended the vaccine and it is subject to new advice given by the EMA.

Italy simply extended the ban that they had introduced on specific batches of the vaccine and they are also flexible to EMA’s decisions.

In Spain, Carolina Darias, the Spanish Health Minister, there will be a ban for at least two weeks before they may lift restrictions.

Netherlands did not do much different as it has made sure that until at least 29th March, the suspension will last.

The Irish Republic, Denmark, Bulgaria, Portugal, Iceland, Norway and Slovenia have temporarily halted inoculations with the vaccine, whilst the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia want to postponed the beginning date for their rollouts. 

The only countries who will continue administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Belgium is doing this as there has been a slight upwards spiral recently in their cases and they cannot risk another wave.

These decisions have all be made on the fact that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine may be unsafe and is the cause of many people who reported blood clots.

WHO has said that they are investigating this but “as of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and stem severe disease from the virus."

When AstraZeneca was asked about their say on this controversy, they said that in both the EU and United Kingdom there have had figures which were "much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar across other licensed Covid-19 vaccines”. These figures include the 15 events of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) - a blood clot in a vein - and 22 events of pulmonary embolism - a blood clot that has entered the lungs - which have been reported by those vaccinated.