The German federal government has stated that the European Medicines Agency will only allow a vaccine against a new type of coronavirus that was developed in cooperation with the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to vaccinate people under the age of 65, German newspapers reported Monday night. .
According to the consensus of Bild and Handelsblatt, the European Union’s Pharmacovigilance Agency will in the future issue a marketing authorization for the new vaccine with a restriction:
This could shatter and slow the vaccination campaign, as one of its first goals is to protect the elderly, according to German government concerns.
Health policymakers clarified the restriction on Bild by saying that the vaccine was primarily tested on young adults. According to the Handelsblatt report, the problem with the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine is that according to the documents provided for the authorization procedure, its effectiveness is extremely low, only 8% in people over the age of 65.
The product, which was jointly developed by a British university and a British Swedish pharmaceutical company, could be the third in the series of vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 in the European Union. Its main advantage is that it does not need to be stored in the refrigerator at a very low temperature, so it can start another phase of the campaign, where the vaccine can also be given in GP surgeries.
Jens Span In a briefing on January 22, the German Minister of Health said that the EMA is expected to issue a marketing authorization in the last days of January. The Minister emphasized that the introduction of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine would lead to a “significant change”, which is a significant improvement in the vaccine supply.
Shortly after the prospectus, the manufacturer AstraZeneca announced that it was due to production disruptions in the first quarter
After German news releases were published, AstraZeneca issued a statement stating that the information about low efficacy among the elderly was completely incorrect and unfounded.
A statement from an AstraZeneca spokesperson said: “Reports that the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is only 8% effective for adults over the age of 65 are totally unfounded. The British Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) supports vaccination for this age group, and recommends The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom using the vaccine in emergency situations in this population without dose adjustment In November, “The Lancet” clinical data published in the journal showed that a strong immune response was observed in adults after the administration of the vaccine, Where 100% of the elderly developed the anti-hypertrophic COVID-19 protein after the second dose of the vaccine.
Pascal SoriotThe president and CEO of British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Monday expressed regret at the first online summit of the World Economic Forum in Davos for the failure of governments to work together during the pandemic and criticized the selfish behavior of some countries.
Soriot spoke at the Davos forum when the consortium he led, such as the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, was widely criticized in Europe for failing to provide transparent information on delaying vaccine delivery.
