Norway excludes AstraZeneca from vaccination campaign, says PM Erna Solberg

Norway has removed the vaccine against Covid-19 made by AstraZeneca from its inoculation campaign, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.

Solberg said on Wednesday that the decision was based on the advice of a committee of experts and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI), which recommended excluding the shots made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson due to the risk of very rare but serious side effects, DPA news agency reported.

Norway is also extending its temporary halt on the use of the Johnson & Johnson shot, but has not excluded it from its inoculation campaign for now, Solberg said.

The government is currently looking into offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to those willing to receive it.

The country had not yet started using the Johnson & Johnson jab.

The committee's recommendations were based partly on the current situation in Norway, where infections are low compared to other countries.

Norway stopped using the Astrazeneca's vaccine on March 11 as a precautionary measure after rare blood clots occurred after vaccination, including deaths. Some 138,000 people had received the vaccine up until then.

Denmark excluded the AstraZeneca vaccine from its inoculation programme just over a month ago.

--IANS

int/pgh