The Netherlands has suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the under-60s after a woman died after having the jab.
Dutch agency Lareb, which tracks medication side effects, said that it has received five reports of extensive thrombosis with low platelet counts after vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine, including in a woman who sadly passed away.
Lareb said the events had occurred seven to 10 days after vaccination.
“These are women between 25 and 65 years old. Three patients had extensive pulmonary embolisms. One died and one also had a brain haemorrhage,” it said.
Roughly 400,000 people were vaccinated with AstraZeneca in the Netherlands in the period and the reports “seem comparable to other reports in Europe,” Lareb said.
About 10,000 scheduled appointments for vaccinations were to be scrapped as a result of the decision, news agency ANP reported.
The decision was made following new reports from medicine monitoring agency Lareb and discussions with health authorities, a Health Ministry statement said.
AstraZeneca said it was working with Dutch authorities to address any questions they had.
"Authorities in the UK, European Union, the World Health Organization have concluded that the benefits of using our vaccine to protect people from this deadly virus significantly outweigh the risks across all adult age groups," it said.
The Netherlands has recorded about 1.2 million coronavirus cases in total and more than 16,500 deaths.
