German commission can do U-turn in AstraZeneca jab for elderly

01 March, 2021
German commission can do U-turn in AstraZeneca jab for elderly
Germany's vaccine commission is considering reversing lessons and recommending AstraZeneca's COVID-19 jab for those over 65 after a study showed it to be effective among the elderly, its chairman has said.

"It is feasible and we will conduct it," Thomas Mertens, who heads the commission referred to as STIKO, told public tv ZDF Friday (Feb 26) evening when asked if the British-Swedish firm's shot could be approved for all following a latest research.

The commission "will soon publish a fresh updated recommendation", he said, adding he was awaiting details from the authors of the study that was carried out in Scotland.

Per month ago, the commission said it had been recommending the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine limited to under-65-year-olds because of insufficient data on its effectiveness on the elderly.

The European Medicines Agency, the regulator for the EU, has recommended the AstraZeneca jab for adults of all ages.

After muddled communication about the efficacy of the British-manufactured jabs hit demand, doctors and public health officials have pleaded with Germans to take up AstraZeneca vaccines.

AstraZeneca has been displayed to be about 60 % effective in trials, while studies point to around 95 per cent efficacy for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

However the British jab gets the advantage of certainly not requiring deep-freeze storage, with a regular refrigerator sufficing.

"It all proved badly," Mertens stated while justifying your choice never to recommend the vaccine to the elderly due to too little data at that time.

"We have by no means criticised the vaccine," which is "very great," he said.

The recent study led by the University of Edinburgh discovered that by the fourth week after receiving the original dose, the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of hospitalisation from COVID-19 by up to 85 per cent.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the chance by 94 %.

It also found that vaccination was connected with an 81 per cent decrease in hospitalisation risk in the fourth week among those aged 80 years and over, when the results for both vaccines were combined.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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