Germany's vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) said it has recorded 31 cases of a rare blood clot in the brain after people were vaccinated against COVID-19 with an AstraZeneca jab.
Nine of these cases have resulted in deaths, the PEI added.
According to the institute, the registered cases are linked to sinus vein thrombosis, or CSVT – in 19 of them, doctors recorded blood platelet deficiency, or thrombocytopenia. All of the cases except two concerned women aged 20-63 – the two men were 36 and 57 years old.
In a separate development, two of Berlin's state hospital groups Charite and Vivantes have stopped administering the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to women under the age of 55, Reuters reported, citing Tagesspiegel.
Earlier this year, the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was suspended in several countries following reports of severe blood clots in several people who were inoculated. The European Medicines Agency later ruled that the vaccine is safe.