Denmark excludes Johnson & Johnson vaccine from COVID-19 vaccination program

Copenhagen-Sana

Denmark has excluded the US Johnson & Johnson vaccine from its national vaccination campaign against the Corona virus due to concerns about its serious side effects, including blood clots.

And the Danish health authorities said in a statement today: They concluded that "the benefits of using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine do not outweigh the risks of causing potential side effects in those who receive it, and therefore the vaccination program will continue without it."

Thus, Denmark is the first country to decide not to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the vaccination campaign, knowing that it has never authorized the use of this vaccine, which is being marketed in Europe by Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The decision would slow down by four weeks the ongoing vaccination campaign in Denmark, where the epidemic is under control and where most of the groups most at risk of Covid 19 have been vaccinated.

According to the latest data, 11.5 percent of Denmark's population of 5.8 million people received the two doses, while 23.4 percent received the first dose.

And the vaccines authorized for use in the European Union so far are Pfizer-Biontec, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, noting that the last two vaccines are limited to receiving specific age groups in most European countries.

Last April, the US health authorities suspended the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to cases of blood clots, but the Medicines Authority in Europe concluded that the benefits of the vaccine exceed its risks, but acknowledged that there are very rare risks of exposure of the vaccine recipient to blood clots.