Ireland has temporarily halted its use of the AstraZeneca jab after some reports of blood clots in vaccinated people.

Ireland's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, recommended "the administration of Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca be temporarily deferred from this morning, Sunday 14th March".

The move came after a review from the Norwegian Medicines Agency showed four new cases of "serious blood clotting in adults" had occurred after the jab.

He added: "It has not been concluded that there is any link between the Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca and these cases.

"However, acting on the precautionary principal, and pending receipt of further information, the NIAC has recommended the temporary deferral of the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination programme in Ireland.

Just two days ago the World Health Organisation said the vaccination was "excellent" and "no causal relationship had been established between the shot and the health problems reported".

Ireland is the latest EU country to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Latvia have already suspended its use to allow time for the EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) to conduct an investigation.

One person died of multiple thrombosis – formation of blood clots within blood vessels – 10 days after their vaccine, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.

A second patient was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism – where blockages form in the arteries in the lungs – but is now recovering.

As of Tuesday last week, two other clotting conditions had been identified in patients that had received a dose from the same batch.

A European Medicines Agency statement confirmed that Malta had received doses from the aforementioned batch of vaccines. 

The EMA said there is currently no evidence that the vaccine caused the conditions, and that thrombosis is not listed as a potential side effect of the vaccine.

It said that the batch labelled ABV5300 comprised one million doses and had been delivered to 17 EU countries.

The Maltese health authorities said they had asked for direction from the Maltese Medicines Authority regarding the vaccine.

The Medicines Authority recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccination programme continue as planned. "This in light that the European Medicines Authority said that there is no indication that the vaccine had caused the health complications reported in Austria, even as the reported health complications are not listed as side effects of the vaccine."

The statement read that the particular consignment referred to was used in the country a few weeks ago.

"While there are no more vaccines from this batch to use in the country, the Health Authorities did not receive any reports of any reactions from the people who were administered vaccines from the batch in question."

"While the health authorities are following the situation closely, they feel there is no need for alarm for the patients who received the vaccine from this consignment."