“The Epidemiologist has decided not to use the Moderna vaccine in Iceland while providing further information on the safety of the Moderna vaccine,” the directorate said.

So far, Iceland has fully vaccinated more than 88 percent (370,000 locals) of the eligible population, of ages 12 and above.

On Thursday, Sweden decided to suspend the use of Moderna's COVID-19 shots for those aged 30 and under, while Denmark did the same for those under 18 after the study had shown a potential increase in the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis among young people.

The Moderna COVID‑19 vaccine, codenamed mRNA-1273 and sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

It is authorized for use in people aged twelve years and older in some jurisdictions and for people eighteen years and older in other jurisdictions to provide protection against COVID-19 which is caused by infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

It is designed to be administered as two or three 0.5 mL doses given by intramuscular injection at an interval of at least 28 days apart.

On June 23, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that myocarditis or pericarditis occurs in about 13 of every 1 million young people, mostly male and over the age of 16, who received the Moderna or the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine.