Finland pauses AstraZeneca jab despite EMA 'safe' finding

The Finnish health authority THL announced on Friday it will pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Finland for at least a week, following two reports of blood clots in patients who had received the jab.

Citing the "precautionary principle," the THL decided to suspend the vaccine with immediate effect "until there is more information about the case and possible causality can be evaluated", the agency said in a statement.

The decision comes a day after Europe's medicines regulator concluded the vaccine was "safe and effective". 

Use of the vaccine will not resume before March 29, due to reports to Finland's medical regulator Fimea "of two cases of cerebral thrombosis 4-10 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine", the statement said.

The agency noted however that the observed symptoms were "extremely rare" and said there was "currently no certainty" about a causal link to the vaccine.

On Thursday, many European countries said they would resume use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after the European Medicines Agency found the jab was "not associated" with reports of patients suffering blood clots following its use. 

A total of 13 European countries had suspended use of the vaccine, although Finland was not among them.