Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Germany advises AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine only be given to adults under 65

Published

Friday, January 29, 2021 10:12

PHOTO: Finnomena

German officials advise that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine should only be administered to people between the ages of 18 and 64. The recommendation follows reports that the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in partnership with Oxford University, has an efficacy less than 10% in those over 65 years old. The pharmaceutical firm shot down the claims saying the reports are “completely incorrect.”

Germany’s vaccine committee revised its vaccine recommendation, saying it should only be given to adults under 65. The committee said there is a lack of sufficient data regarding the vaccine for older age groups. The European Medicines Agency is set to make a decision on whether to approve the vaccine today.

“There are currently insufficient data available to assess the vaccine efficacy from 65 years of age… The AstraZeneca vaccine, unlike the mRNA vaccines, should only be offered to people aged 18-64 years at each stage.”

In a previous report, AstraZeneca released a statement saying the reports of the low efficacy rate for the elderly are “completely incorrect.”

“In November, we published data in The Lancet demonstrating that older adults showed strong immune responses to the vaccine, with 100% of older adults generating spike-specific antibodies after the second dose.”

Thailand

Thailand has secured 26 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and recently reserved another 35 million doses. The Thai firm Siam Bioscience will produce the vaccine locally.

The first phase of vaccinations is set to start next month. The Thai government has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use and Thailand is set to receive the first 50,000 doses next month.

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha announced that 19 million people will be injected with the vaccine during the first phase, said to start next month. He says 11 million of those people will be over the age of 60.

SOURCE: Reuters

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Related Topics:AstraZeneca Coronavirus COVID covid-19 Covid-19 vaccine Germany Oxford University PM Prayut Chan-o-cha Siam Bioscience Thailand vaccine

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9 Comments

Issan John

Friday, January 29, 2021 at 12:03 pm

The recommendation isn’t based on the alleged low efficacy rate, as the 8% / 10% reports in Germany are questionable, at best, but because the numbers tested in the over 65 / over 70 / over 75 / over 80 brackets were far smaller than originally thought, and the term “older adults” is far from clear and appears to have been used to refer to those over 55.

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- James R
  
  Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 4:29 am
  
  Issan John
  
  But the rest of the EU have ignored the Germans and have said the drug can be given to all age groups.
  
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  - Alavan
    
    Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 5:34 pm
    
    Yes, the EU has decided that.
    But it is up to each of the 27 countries for which group of population they will use the Oxford vaccine. So Germany will not use it for people over 65, but for others.
    
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Robert Bunker

Friday, January 29, 2021 at 1:19 pm

This article is almost criminally negligent in it’s lack of explanation of directly relevant context, which is all about political scapegoating on the part of EU Commission for it’s failure to procure sufficient vaccine cover for a population c.300 million. The last thing a paranoid Thai population needs now is vaccine misinformation and I fear that’s what this article brings as it is now

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- Slugger
  
  Friday, January 29, 2021 at 3:58 pm
  
  The find a better source. Simple.
  
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- Alavan
  
  Friday, January 29, 2021 at 5:46 pm
  
  The problem just is that the tests done by AstraZeneca took place on a big majority of young people. Only 8% of the test persons were older than 65 (for Moderna this was 42%)and now experts say they have not enough reliable data if the vaccine works on older people. They estimate it will be less than 70% effective.
  
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- James R
  
  Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 4:31 am
  
  Robert
  
  The EU passed the drug for all age groups today (Friday 29th)
  
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Glenn

Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 7:38 pm

wow. Germany advises AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine only be given to adults under 65 (that would mean people with strong immune systems and much less likely to have pre-existing health conditions).

Meanwhile, the Thai PM says the first round of shots will be give to “people with severe acute respiratory syndrome, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, stroke or cerebrovascular disease; those with cancer, diabetes and obesity; the elderly aged 60 years and over”

Oh whatever, they’re going to die anyways so just given them the shot and let that finish them off!

wow.

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Alavan

Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at 1:53 am

Next to Germany, Italy, Sweden and Belgium will not give this vaccin to older people.
Experts say it is a very good vaccin for people younger than 55, but they have (for the moment)not enough data about people older.

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Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.

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