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Members of the European Union (EU) are successively approving vaccinations for the elderly for the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine developed by the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca-Oxford University in the UK.
According to the AP and Reuters news agency on the 4th (local time), the German Ministry of Health said that the local vaccination committee had officially approved the AstraZeneca Corona 19 vaccine to be administered to people 65 years of age or older.
The German Ministry of Health said the decision was “good news for older people awaiting vaccination,” and said they would get the vaccine sooner.
Swedish health officials also announced on the same day that it has expanded the target of AstraZeneca vaccination recommendations to 65 years of age or older.
Swedish health officials explained the background to the decision at a press conference: “In places like England and Scotland, there have been new studies showing that the AstraZeneca vaccine provides very good preventive effects for this age group.”
Belgian health officials, who had previously recommended the use of the vaccine to those under the age of 55, said on the 3rd that they would be vaccinated against the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over the age of 55, AFP news agency said.
In addition, on the same day, Hungary also decided to recommend vaccinations for those over the age of 60, and Austrian authorities also started vaccination against AstraZeneca for seniors aged 65 and over. France has also expanded the target of this vaccine to the age of 74.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is one of three vaccines approved by the European Union (EU) along with the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer-German Bioentech and the US Modena Vaccine.
In late January, the EU approved the conditional sale of AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU to all adults over 18 years of age, following the recommendation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
However, some member countries such as Germany, France, Belgium and Sweden previously restricted the age of using the AstraZeneca vaccine to adults under the age of 65 because clinical data for the elderly were insufficient.
However, as data showing the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly in the UK have been released one after another in the UK and the pressure to speed up vaccination continues, authorities are changing their stance, the AP said.
The UK’s England Public Health Bureau (PHE) released a due diligence result showing that there was a great preventive effect after 3-4 weeks in the age group over 80 who received the first dose of AstraZeneca’s Corona 19 vaccine on the 1st.
On the 3rd, researchers at the University of Bristol, UK, also released a study that showed that the AstraZeneca Corona 19 vaccine is more than 80% effective in preventing severe disease in the elderly and high-risk groups.
Last month, researchers at the University of Edinburgh published a study showing that the risk of hospitalization in Scotland after 4 weeks of AstraZeneca vaccination was reduced by about 90%.
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