2 Danish Workers Fall Seriously Ill After AstraZeneca Vaccination

On Saturday, Denmark said that one person died and another one fell seriously ill after taking the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, prompting the nation to continue its suspension of the vaccine.

The two patients were both hospital workers and had received the AstraZeneca vaccine less than 14 days before becoming ill with blood clots and cerebral hemorrhaging, Reuters reported.

Without giving details, such as when the workers fell ill, the Danish Medicines Agency confirmed that it had received two "serious reports" related to the vaccine.

Tanja Erichsen, acting director of the agency's Danish Pharmacovigilance Council, tweeted Saturday that the nation is prioritizing the new reports to determine whether the incidents could be linked to the vaccine.

Notably, Denmark, which halted using the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11, was among more than a dozen countries that temporarily paused the use of the vaccine after a small number of reports of cases of rare brain blood clots sent scientists and governments scrambling to determine any link.

Some countries including Germany and France this week reversed their decision to suspend use of the vaccine following an investigation into the reports of blood clots by the European Union’s drug watchdog, which said on Thursday it is still convinced the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.