Pause on AstraZeneca vaccine but Health Minister says rollout of other vaccines continues

30,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will remain in storage this week, while the European medicines regulator investigates a cluster of serious blood clot events in Norway. 

The pharma company says there's no evidence its product is the cause -- and that such conditions have actually occurred at a lower rate among some 17 million people vaccinated with it. 

In Ireland, appointments are going ahead as planned for around 50,000 people over 80, due to receive a Pfizer or Moderna dose from their GP. 

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly says the vaccine programme will catch up within weeks; "No one was due for a second dose yet with AstraZeneca, there's a 12 week interval between first and second doses, assuming that the EMA and our own expert groups, give the green light to recommence this later on this week, all we'll really be looking at is a relatively short term rescheduling for the people who were due to receive AstraZeneca this week, those who are due to receive Pfizer and Modern, the cohorts in the 70s and above, that is going to continue. "