Norway to lend unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Sweden, Iceland, says health ministry

Norway will lend 216,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine it has in stock to Sweden and Iceland, the country's health ministry said on Thursday. "We will get the doses we lend back as soon as we ask for it," Health Minister Bent Hoie said in a statement.

Norway will lend 216,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine it has in stock to Sweden and Iceland, the country's health ministry said on Thursday. Norway on March 11 suspended the rollout of the vaccine after a small number of younger inoculated people were hospitalised for a combination of blood clots, bleeding and a low count of platelets, some of whom later died.

Sweden and Iceland will be able to receive the doses from Norway for as long as the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout is suspended. "We will get the doses we lend back as soon as we ask for it," Health Minister Bent Hoie said in a statement.