Germany will review the order of its coronavirus vaccine priority list following a recommendation from its vaccine authority not to give the AstraZeneca vaccine to people 65 and older.
“We now need to review the immunization order [because] of the age limit of the AstraZeneca vaccine, “health minister Jens Spahn said, according to AFP.
It comes a day after the European Medicines Agency recommended that anyone over the age of 18 be vaccinated.
Although the EMA said there were not enough results to show how effective the vaccine would be in older people, it would not prevent people under the age of 55 based on “test evidence” and the “safety profile”. ”.
Experts at the EMA also said it was also about giving countries options for their numbers.
But the German vaccination authority on Friday recommended not allowing AstraZeneca vaccination for people age 65 and older, saying there were not enough data on the effectiveness of the vaccine in the elderly.
Spahn said he wanted to implement the decision of German experts and that the vaccine would be used in younger people such as care workers.
The decision also comes amid a row between the EU and the pharmaceutical company over whether AstraZeneca needs to fulfill its first quarter delivery orders.
To date Germany has vaccinated 1.8 million people. The country has reported 2.2 million COVID cases and more than 56,000 deaths.
Germany is currently locked up and has recently banned travel from five countries where more diffuse changes are spreading rapidly.