Enlarge image
AstraZeneca should only be used sparingly by people over the age of 60, according to a representative of Ema
Photo:
Dado Ruvic / REUTERS
A representative of the European Medicines Agency (Ema) is promoting restraint in vaccinating the active ingredient of AstraZeneca, even among people over the age of 60.
"In the context of the pandemic, it was and is our position that the benefits of an AstraZeneca vaccination outweigh the risks in all age groups," said Ema vaccination expert Marco Cavaleri of the Italian newspaper "La Stampa".
When asked, Cavaleri said that the authorities should recommend mRNA vaccines such as those from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna not only for younger people, but also for people over 60.
"Many countries such as France and Germany are considering this in view of the greater availability of mRNA vaccines."
Despite very rare cases of brain thrombosis, Ema recommends the use of AstraZeneca without reservation. But the British-Swedish group has recently attracted attention again due to serious delivery cuts and delays. For example, the group should provide the federal government with more than 2.4 million doses of vaccine in the past week; in fact, only a quarter of it arrived (read more here).
The delivery of Biontech is also expected to decrease significantly from the second week of July.
The Federal Ministry of Health has not yet published any figures on this.
But according to the French government, deliveries to France will fall back to May's levels from July 11th.
For Germany it would mean that around 3.4 million cans of Comirnaty will be delivered per week.
In June, on the other hand, an average of more than five million cans per week are planned.
mjm / Reuters