Blood banks have continued through the pandemic, and any healthy individual can give blood, AK reported, but not if they received an AstraZeneca shot within the last month, amid reports of fears of blood clotting relating to the product.

"Since the AstraZeneca vaccine is based on a viral vector, we have to wait [after receiving the inoculation, Gulara Khanirzayeva, head of the blood donor department at the North Estonian Medical Center (PERH) told AK, referring to the product being made by a British company at a time when the more potent, so-called British COVID-19 strain has been identified as spreading, including in Estonia.

Hospitals are nonetheless pressing on with blood donor drives, with Wednesday being a day set aside for just that in the central Estonian town of Paide, AK reported.

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