European countries halt using AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine

BERLIN, Germany — A dozen countries including Germany, France, Spain and Italy temporarily suspended their use of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine after reports last week that some people in Denmark and Norway who got a dose developed blood clots, even though there’s no evidence that the shot was responsible.

The European Medicines Agency says the data available do not suggest the AstraZeneca vaccine caused the clots and that people should continue to be immunized.

AstraZeneca said it had reports of 37 people with blood clots among 17 million people across Europe and that there was “no evidence of an increased risk” of blood clots in any age group or gender in any country.