The German Vaccination Commission (Stiko) is considering recommending AstraZeneca's anti-Covid vaccine for those over 65 after a study in Scotland showing its effectiveness for older people, its chairman said.
Read also: The AstraZeneca vaccine would be very effective in the elderly
Asked if Stiko could authorize the Swedish-British laboratory's vaccine for all after the encouraging results of this study, Thomas Mertens said: "
It is possible and we will do it
" in an interview on public television. ZDF Friday evening.
The commission "
will very soon publish a new updated recommendation
", he said, adding to be still awaiting details from the authors of the study, led by the University of Edinburgh and made public there is a week.
So far, this vaccine, which is less effective than its messenger RNA competitors, is recommended for people under 65, a decision that has raised suspicion among the population in Germany.
The product also remains unpopular in part of Europe, even though the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had approved its use for those over 18, without age limit, in the European Union.
German doctors and public health officials recently appealed for the cheaper and easier to store vaccine to be administered more, as tens of thousands of vials remained unused in the country.
"
It all turned out badly
," admitted the chairman of the commission, justifying the decision at the end of January not to recommend the vaccine to the elderly by a lack of data at the time.
"
We have never criticized the vaccine,
" which is "
very good,
" he insisted.
AstraZeneca hopes to catch up on delays in deliveries to EU in Q2
The study conducted as part of the vaccination campaign in Scotland showed that four weeks after administration of a first dose, the risk of hospitalization was reduced by 85% with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and by 94% with AstraZeneca / Oxford, compared to people who did not receive the vaccine.
Among those over 80, one of the most at-risk groups, preliminary combined results of the two vaccines showed an 81% reduction in hospitalizations.