The German Government has warned against giving AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to people older than 65 years.
The warning from Germany comes amid a bitter dispute between the European Union and the drugmaker over delayed supplies of the vaccine to European countries. The EU has ordered 300 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which could be approved for use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday with an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses.
According to the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) at Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country’s main public health authority, there is insufficient data on the effectiveness of the vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, for this age group.
A statement by the STIKO and RKI released on Thursday, January 28, says “Due to the small number of study participants in the age group 65 years, no conclusion can be made regarding efficacy and safety in the elderly. This vaccine is now recommended by STIKO only for persons aged 18-64 years”