German Berlin Municipal Hospitals Temporarily Suspend AZ Vaccine for Women Under 55

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Municipal hospitals under the jurisdiction of Berlin, the capital of Germany, have temporarily suspended AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine administration for women under the age of 55.

According to major foreign media on the 30th (local time), Charit? University Hospital and Vivantes Hospital in Germany announced that they decided to temporarily halt AZ vaccine administration for women under 55 on that day.

These municipal hospitals have administered the AZ vaccine to thousands of their staff members over the past few weeks. Since the majority of hospital staff are women, vaccine cancellations are expected to continue for the time being.

Charit? University Hospital has 19,000 employees, about two-thirds of whom have already been vaccinated. Among them, 70% have received only the first dose. Vivantes Hospital and its affiliated nursing homes have approximately 17,000 employees.

Since early this year, Charit? University Hospital and Vivantes Hospital have been administering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to medical staff and caregivers in COVID-19 wards. In recent weeks, AZ vaccines were given to staff in other wards. They had planned to administer AZ vaccines to students training at Charit? University Hospital and to patients in the future.

It remains uncertain whether those who have received only the first dose of the AZ vaccine will receive the second dose.

Major foreign media reported that other hospitals in Berlin are also discussing the extent to which the AZ vaccine will be administered. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are in short supply.

Earlier, on the previous day, the city of Euskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, temporarily suspended AZ vaccine administration for women under 55.

Euskirchen made this decision following reports that a 47-year-old woman who received the AZ vaccine last week died, and a 28-year-old woman who received the AZ vaccine developed a severe illness. The city stated that both women suffered from cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST).

Meanwhile, according to the Paul-Ehrlich Institute (PEI), Germany's vaccine approval authority, as of the 25th, the number of cases of cerebral thrombosis after receiving the AZ vaccine in Germany has increased to 21. Among them, 7 have died, AP News reported.

They showed symptoms of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), and 12 of them were also confirmed to have disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).

Among the 21 cases, 19 were women aged 20 to 63, and 2 were men aged 36 and 57. The number of people vaccinated with the AZ vaccine in Germany reaches 2.27 million.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.