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The AstraZeneca vaccine will only be given to people between the ages of 18 and 55.

2021-02-05T18:31:29.419Z


Spain is aligned with the most conservative European countries. The batch that arrives this weekend will go to second-line toilets


A man receives the AstraZeneca vaccine on January 11 in Stevenage, England (UK) .DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

AstraZeneca vaccines will only be shot in Spain to people under 55 years of age.

This has been decided this Friday by the Public Health Commission of the National Health System, made up of technicians from the Ministry of Health and the autonomous communities, which have needed three meetings to reach this conclusion, sources present at the meeting confirm.

With this decision, the vaccination plan had to be altered, which provided that after the groups in the first phase (residences, health workers and large dependents) the next would be those over 80 years of age.

Given the imminent arrival of vials of this drug this weekend, they have selected first the health workers who are not on the front line.

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At the meeting, 12 communities voted in favor of establishing the limit in 55 years, Cantabria abstained and six voted against: Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid, Aragon, Castilla y León, according to the same sources.

The decision comes after at least eight European countries have decided that they would only give the vaccine to those under 65, despite the fact that the European Medicines Agency authorized it for anyone over 18. Among them are some, such as Germany, which puts the barrier at 65 and others, such as Italy or Belgium, which lower it to 55. The reason is that in clinical trials there was not enough sample of people over 65 to show its effectiveness.

Furthermore, the bulk of the participants were under 55. Despite this, the UK is vaccinating with this drug as it did show that the immune response in vaccinated subjects was good.

The medical societies of Spain agreed to inoculate this vaccine only to those under 65. Those of Epidemiology, Public Health, Preventive Medicine, Gerontology and Vaccination had been in favor of using it only in the groups in which it had demonstrated effectiveness, in statements by its spokesmen to this newspaper.

The decision to set the margin at 55 is "correct with the current evidence", in the opinion of Rafael M. Ortí Lucas, president of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene (Sempsph), since he reserves vaccines "with more efficacy for those over 55, who have higher mortality ”.

The committee had already anticipated last Wednesday that the AstraZeneca solution would not be administered to people over 80 years of age.

Now it is expanded to those of 55. For all of them those of Moderna and Pfizer will go.

This technically does not imply a delay in the vaccination of these groups, but it does prevent it from being advanced thanks to the 1.8 million doses that will arrive in February.

As Fernando Simón, director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, said in his appearances this week, with which there are plans to arrive, the shared objective of the entire European Union of vaccinating 80% of the elderly can be met. 80 years in March.

This is the most vulnerable age group: six out of 10 deaths in the second wave.

Information about the coronavirus

- Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the pandemic

- Restrictions search engine: What can I do in my municipality?

- This is how the coronavirus curve evolves in the world

- Download the tracking application for Spain

- Guide to action against the disease

Source: elparis

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