France changes tack and allows AstraZeneca views for children under 75

by

PARIS (Reuters) – France will allow people under 75 with pre-existing health problems to receive the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the health minister said, moving from an earlier position that the vaccine should be be for children under 65 only.

PHOTO FILE: A doctor, with a protective face mask, prepares a dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in his counseling room at the doctor’s office in Gouzeaucourt as part of the coronavirus infection (COVID-19) vaccine campaign in the France, February 24, 2021. REUTERS / Pascal Rossignol

This reassessment is likely to help accelerate the French vaccination campaign and has been criticized by many as being too slow. On Saturday, 4.55 million people had received at least one picture of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.

That compares with 6.17 million in Germany and up to 20.9 million in Britain.

Health Minister Olivier Veran told France 2 television that raising the age would allow 2.5 million people to be vaccinated in the coming weeks.

People age 75 and older would continue to receive only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Veran said.

When the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for use by EU regulators this year, France and other countries including Germany, Italy and Austria said it should not be given to the elderly, naming lack of sufficient data.

The country’s main advisory body, Haute Autorite de la Sante, (HAS) had said at the time that they would review its position.

Britain has been releasing the AstraZeneca vaccine since January, starting with the elderly and health workers, after allowing it to be used by all adults.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, HAS officials justified the change in the situation after a survey conducted in Scotland covering 5.4 million people showed that the Pfizer-BioNtech and Oxford-AstraZeneca scenes were semi-effective in preventing serious diseases.

Among those aged 80 and older – one of the highest risk groups for COVID-19 – vaccines were associated with an 81% reduction in hospital risk in the fourth week after the first dose, when the results for combining the two vaccines.

“These are amazing results, they will allow us to move forward,” HAS chief Dominique Le Guludec told reporters.

Another study by Public Health England came to similar conclusions.

Reciting with Benoit Van Overstraten. Additional commentary by Alistair Smout; Written by Christian Lowe and Matthias Blamont; Edited by Nick Macfie

.Source