Sweden to rule on use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in coming days

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden will decide how to use Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine within the coming days, the Health Agency said on Tuesday, following reports of rare blood clots similar to those reported for the AstraZeneca shot.

U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after six recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots. [L4N2M62S2]

The move comes a week after European regulators said they had found a possible link between AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and a rare blood clotting problem that had led to a small number of deaths.

Sweden is due to receive its first doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine later this week. It paused the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March but later resumed use for people aged 65 and older.

“We are looking at the issue and the data available from the European Medicines Agency and our American colleagues,” Sweden’s Chief Epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told a news conference. “Expect a decision within one or a few days.”

The country of 10 million inhabitants has administered 2.1 million shots so far, using the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.

Sweden is in the midst of a mounting third wave of the pandemic, with the number of patients treated at intensive care units reaching as high as during the peak of the second wave around the turn of the year. It registered 19,105 new cases since Friday, health agency statistics showed.

The country, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, recorded 39 new deaths, taking the total to 13,660. The deaths registered have occurred over several days and sometimes weeks.

Sweden’s death rate per capita is many times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours’ but lower than in most European countries that opted for lockdowns.

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