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Germany is also suspending corona vaccinations with the preparation from the manufacturer AstraZeneca as a precaution.
The Federal Ministry of Health announced this on Monday and referred to a current recommendation from the Paul Ehrlich Institute.
The background is newly reported cases of thrombosis in cerebral veins, said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).
So far there have been seven cases out of almost 1.6 million vaccinations with AstraZeneca.
A connection with the vaccination could "not be completely ruled out".
The suspension affects "both first and follow-up vaccinations".
The vaccination doses will initially be stored.
Spahn said the decision was "a purely precautionary measure".
In addition, the decision was “not made easy”.
You have to give the experts time to review the incidents in order to maintain confidence.
We have to wait and see what the decision will mean for the continuation of the vaccination campaign.
It is hoped that the European Medicines Agency will come to a decision on how to proceed “in the course of this week”.
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After new reports of cerebral vein thrombosis in connection with the vaccination in Germany and Europe, the Paul Ehrlich Institute considers further investigations to be necessary.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide "whether and how the new findings will affect the approval of the vaccine".
The federal government initially decided not to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccinations after several countries had suspended vaccination with the preparation after reports of side effects.
On Friday, Spahn had emphasized that there was no evidence of a causal relationship between the vaccination and the occurrence of blood clots.
According to calculations by WELT, AstraZeneca has so far delivered a good three million doses of vaccine to Germany.
According to the Robert Koch Institute, more than 1.6 million of them had been inoculated by Sunday.
After the vaccination stop just announced, there should now be over 1.4 million unvaccinated cans in German refrigerators.
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On Thursday Denmark first stopped vaccination with the vaccine and referred to several cases of severe blood clots after vaccinations with AstraZeneca.
This was followed by Norway, Iceland and the EU countries Bulgaria, Ireland and, on Sunday evening, the Netherlands.
Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg suspended the use of a certain AstraZeneca batch, Italy and Romania stopped the use of another batch.
Manufacturer does not see an increased risk of blood clots
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not yet seen any indications that the cases of blood clots were caused by the vaccination with AstraZeneca.
The EMA stressed last week that the information available so far showed that the number of thromboembolic incidents in vaccinated people is no higher than in the general population.
As of March 10, 30 cases of thromboembolic incidents had been reported among the nearly five million people vaccinated so far in the EU with the AstraZeneca agent.
The World Health Organization (WHO) did not initially identify any need for action.
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AstraZeneca defended its vaccine after the vaccine bans whirlwind.
The pharmaceutical company does not see an increased risk of blood clots in connection with the vaccine.
A careful analysis of all available safety data from more than 17 million people vaccinated with the product in the European Union and the UK showed no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or a decrease in blood platelets.
So far, 15 cases of deep vein thrombosis and 22 cases of pulmonary embolism have been reported, which is comparable to other approved Covid-19 vaccines.