Belgium has decided to postpone the administration of doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which was to start on Friday, health authorities announced on Wednesday (April 14) in a statement.
Read also: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be administered as planned to those over 55 in France
The government wants to wait for the opinion of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is due to vote next week on this vaccine, the use of which has been suspended in the United States and South Africa due to the appearance rare serious blood clots, told AFP a spokesperson for the Belgian Ministry of Health.
The laboratory has decided to delay the deployment in Europe of its anti-Covid Janssen single-dose vaccine.
He was the fourth to get clearance from the EMA last month.
Belgium, which received a first delivery of 36,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccines on Monday, was due to make the first injections on Friday, and more were planned for next week.
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Due to the limited supply in April, this decision (to postpone) will not have a significant impact in the short term on the vaccination strategy in our country
", specifies the
press
release of the Interministerial Conference on Public Health, which brings together around the Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke his counterparts from the federated entities.
France, for its part, announced on Wednesday that this vaccine would be administered to people over the age of 55, as is already the case for that of AstraZeneca.