Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland and the Netherlands have temporarily paused their rollouts of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, due to concerns about blood clots.

The move follows reports from Norway over the weekend, where three healthcare workers who had received the vaccine were treated for blood clots.

Austria last week also reported two cases of serious adverse events related to blood clots after immunisation with this vaccine.

Norway, Denmark, Iceland and one region of Italy have all also temporarily halted their AstraZeneca immunisation programs while they investigate.