She added: “The nature of the pandemic has led to increased attention in individual cases and we are going beyond the standard practices for safety monitoring of licensed medicines in reporting vaccine events, to ensure public safety.”
While the list of European nations suspending the vaccine is small, other nations, including the UK, Germany, Australia and Mexico, have said they are continuing their rollout.
Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said: “From what we know so far, the benefit…is far greater than the risk.”
However, in a statement, the Dutch government said it was acting out of precaution to ensure public trust in the vaccine rollout.