Irish health authorities are temporarily suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine today (14th) local time, the BBC, The Guardian and RTE reported.



Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has announced a suspension of AstraZeneca vaccination as a preventive measure, the Irish public broadcaster RTE reported today.



Earlier, Irish Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn also said in a statement that the National Immunity Advisory Committee recommended that AstraZeneca vaccination be temporarily suspended from the morning of the day.



Ronan Glin said it was in response to a notification last night from Norwegian health authorities that there were new cases of severe blood clots after vaccination.



"We haven't been able to conclude if there is a direct link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and these cases," Ronan Glin said. The committee made the precautionary recommendation awaiting further information.



Irish National Immunity Advisory Committee Professor Katrina Butler added that the temporary suspension is "mandatory" until more information is received from the RTE and trust is established.



Butler said he hopes the investigation will be completed by this weekend. He said blood clots can occur regardless of vaccination.



Norwegian health officials said yesterday (the 13th) that they had decided to go into an investigation with the European Medicines Agency, the European Union's drug regulator, on a case of AstraZeneca vaccine showing symptoms such as bleeding, blood clots and platelet reduction.



The World Health Organization said yesterday (the 13th) that the Vaccine Advisory Committee was reviewing safety data and stressed that there was no causal relationship between vaccines and blood clots.



AstraZeneca analyzed data from more than 17 million vaccinations and found no evidence that the vaccine increased the risk of developing pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia.



"In fact, there were fewer cases of these vaccinated people who had these symptoms than those who did not vaccinate them naturally," AstraZeneca spokesman said.