OSLO (Reuters) – Norway will offer those who have received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 to take an injection from an mRNA vaccine as their second dose, the health ministry said on Friday.
Norway on March 11 suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a small number of younger people were hospitalised for a combination of blood clots, bleeding and a low count of platelets, some of whom later died.
It is now awaiting a report from a government-appointed commission due on May 10 on whether to resume its rollout, but this decision will come too late for those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“A clarification about second doses is needed before the … commission delivers its report,” Health Minister Bent Hoeie said in a statement.
“Therefore those who have received a shot from the AstraZeneca vaccine will be offered second doses from (the vaccines developed by) Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna.”
Some 135,000 people, mainly health workers, received the AstraZeneca vaccine before its rollout was suspended.
Norway becomes the latest country to mix vaccines, together with Denmark, Finland, France and Germany.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)
