The Lithuanian government has turned to Denmark, asking to take over some of its AstraZeneca vaccine doses after the country stopped using them.
“We turned [to Denmark] yesterday [April 14]. We said that if Denmark were to consider sharing their vaccines, we'd be happy to be among those who could take them over,” Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė told reporters on Thursday.
Read more: Lithuania to give unused vaccines to workers in large companies
Denmark announced this week that it decided to stop using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, branded as Vaxzevria, altogether because of suspected rare but serious side effects.
Lithuania temporarily halted its use last month over reports about rare cases of blood clotting, but resumed vaccination after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said the side effects were extremely rare and benefits outweighed the risks.
While groups of the Lithuanian population have been reluctant to get AstraZeneca shots, Šimonytė said that enough people would be willing to get the jabs.
The prime minister said she did not know how many vaccine doses Lithuania could expect to get from Denmark.
“In my understanding, Denmark has decided to stop using AstraZeneca altogether and has received quite many requests [to share the vaccines], so it will be able to chose whom to give the unused doses and how many,” she said.
Latvia's Health Minister Daniels Pavļuts tweeted on Wednesday that Riga also asked to take some of Denmark's unused Vaxzevria vaccines.
Read more: Lithuania’s vaccination strategy: balancing between chaos and efficiency
Push forward mass vaccination
The extra doses could lead to an earlier roll out of mass vaccination in Lithuania, Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys said on Thursday.
"Depending on the situation, and it's very likely that we'll also have other vaccines for priority groups at the time, it's quite likely that we could start mass vaccination," the minister told the parliament.
Lithuania would offer the jab to all people who think that "the overall benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks", he said.
Read more: Foreigners in Lithuania and Covid-19 vaccination – what you need to know
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