Sweden joins the list of European countries that have suspended the use of the vaccine from AstraZeneca

Sweden on Tuesday became another European country that, for security reasons, suspended vaccination against the coronavirus COVID-19 with a drug from the Anglo-Swedish company AstraZeneca, the Associated Press reported.

"This decision is a precautionary measure," said the country's chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell.

The Swedish Public Health Agency noted that they will await the results of a special meeting on March 18 of the European Medicines Agency, which will consider the problems associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The World Health Organization will meet on Tuesday to discuss the safety of this vaccine.

Earlier, more than 10 European countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain and France, have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine due to possible side effects. We are talking about a number of cases of blood clots after vaccination, but experts say that a clear connection has not yet been proven, and these cases themselves do not go beyond the general statistics.

According to AstraZeneca, its COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 17 million people in the EU and the UK to date. At the same time, as of last week, less than 40 cases of blood clots are known.