Norway Bans AstraZeneca And Johnson & Johnson Vaccines, Why?
JAKARTA – The Norwegian government has formed a team of experts to evaluate several brands of COVID-19 vaccines. From the results of this evaluation, Norway decided not to use the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The reason, the two vaccines cause side effects that are quite serious, although rare.
"This is of course due to serious side effects", said team leader Lars Vorland.
Vorland has submitted a report on the results of the evaluation to the Norwegian government. From that evaluation, they decided not to “recommend the use of adenoviral vector vaccines in national immunization programs”.
On the other hand, the Norwegian Minister of Health, Bent Hoie, has not yet decided the use of the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines. The Norwegian government evaluates the side effects of AstraZeneca.
The government has injected 134,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine into some of its citizens until mid-March. There were five cases of severe thrombosis, three of which were fatal.
The case was experienced by a Norwegian citizen who was young and reportedly healthy before being vaccinated. Others died from bleeding in the brain. With these cases, although rare but fatal, the government decided to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on March 11.
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A few weeks later, the Norwegian health agency decided to stop using the AstraZeneca vaccine. The decision was issued on April 15, 2021. However, the government first examined the side effects caused by the use of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines by forming a committee of experts. Both vaccines use the same adenovirus technology.
The decision contradicts the WHO recommends the use of both vaccines. WHO recommends the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines because they both have benefits that outweigh their side effects.
In this case, Norway has prevented the fatal effects of injecting both vaccines into its citizens. In addition, Denmark, which is Norway's neighbor, has officially banned the use of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.