Madrid:
Spain mentioned on Friday it would limit use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to folks below 55, becoming the newest European nation to impose an age restriction on the Anglo-Swedish jab.
The move echoes earlier choices by a increasing quantity of nations in Europe that have restricted the vaccine’s use in spite of the European Medicines Agency green lighting its use late final week for all adults.
“The public health commission, at a meeting on Friday and following scientific evidence, has approved setting as 55 the maximum age for people to get the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19,” the overall health ministry mentioned in a statement.
Spain will acquire its initially shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines this weekend, it added.
Last week, the German vaccines authority advised against making use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine for the more than 65s, judging that there was “not enough data” on its effectiveness in this age group.
The choice came just hours right after the EU’s medicines regulator gave the vaccine the green light for use in adults of all ages, saying it believed it would be protected for older folks as well.
France followed suit on Tuesday and Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands and Sweden have taken comparable methods, though Switzerland has referred to as for “additional studies” and even though Italy authorized the jab, it suggested making use of an option vaccine for the more than-55s.
The Dutch Health Council mentioned Thursday that the vaccine’s efficacy in folks aged more than 55 was unclear due to the fact only a tiny quantity of that age took aspect in clinical trials.
The age controversy compounds a row more than a shortfall in deliveries from AstraZeneca that has forced the EU to recalibrate its vaccination tactic.
The AstraZeneca jab is only the third vaccine to be authorized by the EU right after these created by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
However its efficacy is reported to be just 60 %, compared with more than 90 % for the other individuals.
Spain has so far vaccinated just below two million folks and plans to have covered 70 % of its population by the summer’s finish, a target reaffirmed on Wednesday by the government in spite of shortages and delays in vaccine supplies.
Also on Wednesday, Health Minister Carolina Darias mentioned Spain was “open” to the notion of making use of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine as lengthy as it was authorized by European regulators.
Spain has been difficult-hit by the pandemic, recording more than 61,000 deaths from practically 3 million situations so far.
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