Britain restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine on Friday while Germany said it would give the shot to anyone who wants it, in a risk-management role reversal that reflects the divergent progress of their vaccination campaigns.
The shifts in guidance on the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s vector-based shot demonstrate just how hard it is for policy makers to weigh its benefits against risks in the form of very rare – yet occasionally fatal – cases of blood clotting.
How choosy governments can afford to be depends to a large extent on how far they have progressed towards vaccinating enough people to drive down the spread of coronavirus infections and cut the number of resulting deaths.
In Britain, which has relied heavily on the AstraZeneca jab designed at Oxford University, 51% of people have received at least one vaccine dose and daily fatalities have fallen to the low double digits. read more
Against that backdrop, Britain’s panel of vaccine advisers said people under 40 should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca due to the small risk of blood clots, raising the age cut-off from 30 previously.
Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), stressed that the decision to propose alternative vaccines for the under-40s was “based on the UK epidemiology”.
He noted that the risk-benefit balance of the AstraZeneca vaccine was different in Germany due to higher infection rates there. In Germany, the seven-day incidence is 126 cases per 100,000 people and, although it is on a downward trend, it is nearly six times the rate in Britain, official data show.
AN ATTRACTIVE OFFER
Britain’s new-found caution follows bold earlier decisions to issue emergency approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, aggressive ordering and a strategic choice to administer first doses to as many people as possible.
Germany, by contrast, has relied on a European Union procurement process that has been troubled by a dispute with AstraZeneca after the company slashed its deliveries due to production problems.
On the regulatory side, Berlin first banned AstraZeneca for the elderly due to a lack of trial data, before saying people under that age shouldn’t receive it after monitoring identified cases of blood clotting, in particular in younger women.
Now, Health Minister Jens Spahn is making the shot freely available to those who want it, on a doctor’s advice, and allowing people to get a second shot as soon as four weeks after the first. read more
The move comes with an eye to the summer holidays and coincides with the rapid passage of legislation this week that would free those fully vaccinated from social distancing measures imposed by Berlin to fight the pandemic. read more
AstraZeneca vaccines stockpiled at vaccination centres will now be used mainly to give second shots. Future deliveries will be sent to family…
Read More: Britain, Germany in role reversal on AstraZeneca vaccine risks