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Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Portugal on Monday suspended use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine over new reports of blood clots, even as a U.S. official said the vaccine could win U.S. authorization next month. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told Reuters that data from the 30,000-person vaccine trial were being reviewed by independent U.S. monitors to determine whether the shot is safe and effective. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could complete its reviews and issue an emergency use authorization next month if all goes well, he said. (Ortiz, Bacon and Aspegren, 3/15)

Germany, Italy, France and Spain joined the ranks of European countries that have temporarily halted use of the Covid-19 shot made by AstraZeneca PLC over blood-clot concerns, dealing another blow to the continent’s sluggish vaccination rollout and threatening the credibility of the vaccine itself. A cascade of cautionary pauses that started last week picked up Monday. Denmark was the first to suspend the shots. Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands and Iceland have also said they would wait for Europe’s bloc-wide medicines regulator to investigate a small number of serious blood-clotting issues among people who had received the AstraZeneca shot. (Strasburg and Pancevski, 3/15)

Sweden on Tuesday became the latest European country to pause use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine amid reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients. The company and international regulators continue to say the vaccine is safe, however, and many countries elsewhere in the world are forging ahead with their vaccination campaigns. (Grieshaber, 3/16)

Thailand’s prime minister received a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca on Tuesday, as much of Asia shrugged off concerns about reports of blood clots in some recipients in Europe, saying that so far there is no evidence to link the two. Many countries using the vaccine also said the benefits from inoculation far outweighed possible risks, even as parts of Europe suspended it pending investigation of potential side effects. AstraZeneca has developed a manufacturing base in Asia, and the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, has been contracted by the company to produce a billion doses of the vaccine for developing nations. Hundreds of millions more are to be manufactured this year in Australia, Japan, Thailand and South Korea. (Quinn, 3/16)

Justin Trudeau sought to reassure Canadians that every Covid-19 vaccine approved in the country is safe even as the European Union’s three biggest economies suspended use of AstraZeneca Plc’s shot. Germany, France and Italy ordered health officials to stop administering the vaccine Monday after inoculated citizens reported suffering blood clots in their legs and lungs. Trudeau said his government is following the developments closely. “Health Canada, our experts and scientists have spent an awful lot of time making sure that every vaccine approved in Canada is both safe and effective,” the prime minister told reporters in Montreal. “Therefore, the best vaccine for you to take is the very first one that is offered to you.” (Bolongaro, 3/15)

Global distribution of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine remains undisturbed by the shot’s suspension in much of Europe following reports of blood clots in some shortly after immunization, the World Health Organization said. The U.N. agency, which continues to recommend the vaccine, is helping provide doses to many poorer nations and said that the majority of those injections are being produced outside of Europe where the suspensions are now taking place. (Cunningham, 3/16)

On Monday, AstraZeneca strongly defended its vaccine —

The company has strongly defended its vaccine, saying that there is “no evidence” of increased risk of blood clots or hemorrhages among the more than 17 million people who have received the shot in the European Union and the United Kingdom. “The safety of all is our first priority,” AstraZeneca said in a statement Monday. “We are working with national health authorities and European officials and look forward to their assessment later this week.” (Horowitz, 3/15)