AstraZeneca Vaccine Likely To Get EU Approval Only For Those Younger Than 65 - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) German officials say the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine will not get EU approval for use among older adults, the Bild newspaper reports.

The newspaper said on Monday that the German government expected the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to give the green light for AstraZeneca vaccinations only among those younger than 65.

Meanwhile the Handelsblatt newspaper reported that the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine for those over 65 is only 8 percent. However, a company representative told Express that "reports that the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine efficacy is as low as eight percent in adults over 65 years are completely incorrect."

European Commissioner for Health and food Safety Stella Kyriakides said on Monday that the EU was asking AstraZeneca to deliver all the pre-paid doses and provide a report on the company's activities following its recent decision to delay the supply of the vaccine to the EU.

The EU has an agreement with AstraZeneca for up to 400 million doses of its vaccine, which was developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford.