EU approves AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and says it can be given to elderly people

April Roach @aprilroach2829 January 2021

European regulators have approved the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine for use in adults.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) licensed the Covid-19 jab for use in people aged 18 and older on Friday.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is the third Covid-19 jab to be given the greenlight by the EMA after ones made by Pfizer and Moderna were approved.

"There are not yet enough results in older participants (over 55 years old) to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group," said the European regulator.

It added that "protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines”.

"EMA's scientific experts considered that the vaccine can be used in older adults," the agency said.

It comes amid a row over a shortfall of doses from AstraZeneca as jabs were running out at centres including in Paris, Madrid and Lisbon.

Production problems at plants in the Netherlands and Belgium mean the EU is set to receive around 31 million doses in the first quarter of the year, or 60 per cent less than initially agreed, according to a Brussels official.

The European Commission announced an export ban on some coronavirus vaccines on Friday.

Executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told a Brussels press conference on Friday: “Today the commission has adopted an implementing regulation making the export of certain products subject to an export authorisation.

“This regulation concerns the transparency and export of Covid-19 vaccines.”

Concerns have been raised about the efficacy of the vaccine for older people. Officials in Germany said on Thursday that it should not be given to the over-65s, citing insufficient data. 

But in its decision Friday, the European agency said the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, would be recommended for use in all adults.

While the AstraZeneca vaccine has been authorised for all adults in other countries, only 12 per cent of the participants in its research were over 55 and they were enrolled later, so there hasn't been enough time to get results.

The EMA assessed four trials in the UK, Brazil and South Africa. The agency said the research showed the vaccine proved to be about 60 per cent effective by reducing the number of people who got sick. The trials have not yet shown whether the vaccine can stop disease transmission.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in