Norway will drop the AstraZeneca jab from its vaccine programme, after a government-appointed commission recommended it be excluded.

Norway’s Prime Minister Enra Solberg today announced the country would no longer be using vaccine, and added that a decision on Johnson & Johnson jabs was yet to be made.  

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The commission recommended both vaccines should be excluded from Norway’s vaccination programme due to a risk of rare but harmful side-effects.

With the AstraZeneca jab, concerns have been voiced about extremely rare but serious blood clots.

Read more: Denmark ditches Johnson & Johnson vaccine amid fears of rare but serious blood clots

In the UK, the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended that adults aged under 40 with no existing health conditions be offered an alternative jab to AstraZeneca.

This is because for this age group the risk of severe harm from Covid does not outweigh the small risk of dangerous blood clotting linked to the vaccine among younger people.