The Lithuanian Health Ministry says it has decided to continue offering AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine shots to all people aged 18 and older.
The ministry said in a press release on Thursday that it took into consideration the State Medicines Control Agency's information on reported adverse reactions to the vaccine, trademarked Vaxzevria, the European Medicines Agency's recommendations and the epidemiological situation in the country.
“Lithuania remains among the ten European Union countries that do not apply additional age restrictions for this vaccine,” the ministry said.
Germany, which previously limited the use of AstraZeneca vaccines to people aged over 60, has already decided to scrap the additional restrictions, too, the ministry noted.
The European Medicines Agency does not recommend restricting the use of Vaxzevria based on age, concluding that the vaccine is effective in preventing hospitalisations, admissions to intensive care units and deaths in all age groups. These benefits increase with age and with higher infection rates, according to the press release.
It sticks to its recommendation that two doses of Vaxzevria be administered 12 weeks apart to provide the best protection against Covid-19.
Rugilė Pilvinienė, senior adviser to the State Medicines Control Agency's Pharmacovigilance and Poisoning Information Unit, said on Monday that the first two cases of unusual blood clots in people vaccinated with AstraZeneca's vaccine had been registered in Lithuania.
“We had two cases of thrombocytopenia with thrombosis, namely thrombosis of the sagittal sinus, a very large vein in the brain,” she said.
Pilvinienė said both cases were young people aged 27 and 30, adding that one of them had already recovered and the other was still in hospital.
The adviser said that several more cases of thrombosis had been registered in April.
In early April, the EMA said the occurrence of unusual blood clots should be listed as a “very rare” adverse reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine.