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In Europe, they limit the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine to people over 65 years of age: could it affect the application in Argentina?

2021-02-08T00:07:07.443Z


Germany, Spain and Switzerland, among others, say that there is a lack of information on effects in people over 65 and for now they will not apply it in that group. Here they promised almost 600 thousand doses before the end of the month and the ANMAT approved it without restrictions.


Emilia vexler

02/07/2021 4:39 PM

  • Clarín.com

  • Society

Updated 02/07/2021 4:39 PM

It is not only Spain, which lowered the age limit even more and will not give it to those who are over

55 years old.

Nor is it a decision of Germany's own, which recommends it

until 64

.

Several countries in the

European Union will

not give the

AstraZeneca

vaccine

to those over 65 years of age.

The Government confirmed that Argentina will receive an "extra" item of 580,000 doses of these vaccines in the remainder of this month.

Thus, this product, the next to arrive in the country, before those ordered by the global fund Covax, seemed to be a balm in the face of the shortage of vaccines in general and the presumably assured doses of Sputnik V, which are also delayed.

But what effect do first world objections to this vaccine have at the local level?

Will the same apply to people over 65?

What is administered here to everyone ensures that we have more doses that others do not want?

If age is also limited in the country,

this decision would condition vaccination plans.

After the delays in shipments from Moscow, something that generated alarm in January, President Alberto Fernández would run into

a new brake

, even if the doses were put on airplanes.

Spain limited the application of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to children under 55 years of age.

The European discussion responds to the fact that the Astrazeneca vaccine trials included

few over 55 years

.

And these countries, which were joined in less than a week by Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Croatia and France,

questioned whether it is effective with older people.

"There are no solid data to guarantee efficacy and the absence of adverse effects in this group," they agreed.

At the same time, a clarification was traced: "If new research

showed efficacy, the decision would be changed

.

"

AstraZeneca offered the national government an early and “extra” departure of 1,160,000 doses -580,000 in February and another 580,000 in March-,

exclusively

because our country was one of the first to authorize it after the British regulatory agency did. .

It was confirmed by the Secretary of Quality in Health of the Ministry of Health, Arnaldo Medina.

It is worth remembering that AstraZeneca's are being produced between Argentina and Mexico, due to the agreement between the Swedish-British pharmaceutical company and the private laboratories mAbxience and Liomont, which is sponsored by both governments.

It transpired that soon more results will be published on the studies of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the effects in those over 65 years of age.

What is certain is that the ANMAT approved this vaccine on December 30 and, at the end of this note, the Ministry of Health of the Nation did not respond to

Clarín

about a 

possible change in the target group / target for inoculation.

In Argentina the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved up to any age

but from 18 years of age.

The European countries that lowered the age limit to administer it did so given that the data for those over 60 years of age (65, as Germany defined it for those between 18 and 64)

are not complete

.

This is so even though the lab just sent out a pre-print publication with data on studies in those over 60. Based on these latest data, the vaccine would work quite well in this group.

If it did not do so, it

would add a serious problem to Argentina

, for not being able to quickly vaccinate

those who most need to be vaccinated ”

,

the renowned infectologist Eduardo López

tells

Clarín

.

As this debate rages around the world, the creators of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine say it appears to be effective against the variant detected in Britain last year.

The announcement is similar to results already reported by Pfizer, Moderna, and other manufacturers for their respective vaccines.

Andrew Pollard of the University of Oxford and who helped develop the AstraZeneca vaccine, says that it appears to reduce the amount of virus in people infected with COVID-19.

Around the same time it became known that efficacy is "limited" against the South African strain. 

The first doses of this vaccine, the third approved in the European Union, it is not known if they will arrive in Argentina next week or the last day of the month.

Nor when will its distribution begin, or to what group.

The recommended interval between the two doses is 10 to 12 weeks.

The recommendation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which approved this vaccine for those over 18 years of age with no age limit, is aligned with the ANMAT decision.

Is there a possibility of a change of opinion?

For López, "everything is possible in Argentina", but he does not believe it will happen.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine has a combination quite similar to that of Sputnik V, both are vector vaccines, which use adenoviruses that do not reproduce.

It seems to me that there will be no major problem.

But it is true that the efficacy of AstraZeneca (65% from the 1st dose) is less than that of Sputnik (91.2% with both doses) ”.

In the event that there is a shift in decision-making and it is recommended

only for those under 65

, older adults would be subject to the availability of Sputnik and, eventually, to the 9 million doses that will arrive via the Covax agreement (at Initially, 2.2 million will arrive), although it was not identified from which laboratories will provide those vaccines.

The United Kingdom and the Czech Republic do administer these vaccines in people who are over 65

, as confirmed in the last hours by the governments of both countries.

British health authorities have already vaccinated people over 70 with the Oxford doses.

In addition, they defended its efficacy and safety.

This matches the information from the laboratories that developed it. 

On the other hand, although the Czech Republic will use the vaccine developed by the British university, Czech Health Minister Jan Blatný admitted that "it is

less effective for this segment of the population."

SC

Look also

Before the end of the month, 580 thousand doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive in the country and another departure is expected for March

More concerns with the Astrazeneca vaccine against the coronavirus: Spain will not apply it to people over 55 years old

Source: clarin

All life articles on 2021-02-08

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