Denmark to Redistribute AstraZeneca Shots to Other Countries

Denmark started examining available options for re-distributing its AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to other countries including poor nations, World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday.

The state announced earlier dropping AstraZeneca from the vaccination program over rare blood clotting concerns to become the first state which took this step.

The Director-General of the Danish Health Authority Søren Brostrøm revealed in a press conference: “Denmark’s vaccination campaign will go ahead without the AstraZeneca vaccine."

WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge commented: "I did have this conversation with Dr. Soren Brostrom, director-general of the Danish (Health Authority) yesterday and I understand that the ministry of foreign affairs of Denmark is ready to, or looking already into options, for sharing AstraZeneca vaccines with poorer countries."

In the same context, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte expressed the country's will to receive Denmark's share of AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca vaccine's crisis is still ongoing in various countries after reporting several deaths of rare blood clotting. Therefore, various states in the European bloc restricted the use of the vaccine for people aged 55 or more.

However, the WHO and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended using the vaccine as it is safe and effective.