Ireland halts using AstraZeneca vaccine amid blood clots fears

Ireland announced on Sunday that using Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is halted amid blood clots fears.

Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly tweeted: "The decision to temporarily suspend use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine was based on new information from Norway that emerged late last night. This is a precautionary step."

In addition, health officials in Ireland asserted that the newly published reports from the Norwegian Medicines Agency identified the presence of serious blood clotting cases in adults after receiving AstraZeneca jabs.

Several European countries suspended using the vaccine such as Austria and Bulgaria.

On the other hand, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson underscored that the vaccine is safe and effective.

Johnson's spokesman said: "We’ve been clear that it’s both safe and effective, and when people are asked to come forward and take it, they should do so in confidence.”

He added: “And in fact, you’re starting to see the results of the vaccine program in terms of the (lower) number of cases we’re seeing across the country, the number of deaths, number of hospitalizations.”