Belgium Delays The Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery

JAKARTA - Belgium is delaying the delivery of the Johnson &Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the company's request, a government statement said on Wednesday, April 14.

As reported by Antara, Thursday, April 15, the European Drug Administration (EMA) hopes to issue recommendations on the J&J vaccine next week after the U.S. drugmaker delayed injections of its artificial vaccine and Denmark halted a similar vaccine from AstraZeneca due to the risk of blood clotting.

Belgian authorities claim to have received 36.000 doses of the first J&J vaccine this week and are expected to receive another 62.400 more next month, with deliveries for May and June still to be decided.

According to authorities, Wednesday's decision will have no significant impact on vaccination plans in the short term.

So far, nearly two million people in Belgium, which has a population of about 11 million, have been vaccinated with the first dose.

About 100 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the EU region --a group of 27 countries, including Belgium.

The bloc is now increasing its supply of COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers Pfizer and BioNTech to improve vaccination programs.