Astra vaccine unused in France, Germany
BERLIN: Already facing a daunting coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination challenge, French and German authorities are fighting to convince more people that a jab from the pharma giant AstraZeneca is just as effective as others.
Stocks of the vaccines from the British-Swedish firm are going unused in both countries, depriving officials of a crucial tool to help end a pandemic that has sparked a social and economic calamity on a scale not seen since World War 2.
Only 273,000 AstraZeneca doses have been administered in France out of 1.7 million received as of end-February, according to health ministry figures.
The poor take-up comes even as the target group for the jabs, health workers over 50 and people with other serious health risks, can get the vaccine directly from their doctor instead of waiting for appointments at vaccination centers.
Experts say it is also cheaper to produce than the two other vaccines approved for Europe, from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, and does not require ultracold storage, making it easier to deploy.
But both France and Germany have refused to authorize AstraZeneca’s vaccine for people over 65, fanning fears over its effectiveness.
The firm’s fumbled release of testing data last November, coupled with questions over its ability to halt new Covid-19 variants, has added to the scepticism — critics note that United States regulators have yet to approve AstraZeneca’s jab.
But Jacques Battistoni, head of the MG France doctors’ union, last week denounced the widespread “AstraZeneca bashing” that was causing many vials to go unused.
Health Minister Olivier Veran, himself a doctor, tried to dispel the doubts by getting the vaccine live on TV. And the country’s vaccination coordinator, Alain Fischer, complained last week that the “bad press” surrounding the shot was “deeply unfair.”
President Emmanuel Macron, who initially downplayed the AstraZeneca jab as “quasi-ineffective” for people over 65, is urging people to take it.
“If this is the vaccine I’m offered, obviously I would take it,” he said after a European Council meeting on Friday. And on Monday he made his first visit to a Covid vaccination center.
But so far France is not allowing more segments of the population to get the vaccine, nor has it cleared it for the elderly, despite such approval from the European Medicines Agency.
Signalling a potential change, however, France’s highest health authority said Monday it was going to “update” its recommendation for use of the vaccine for over 65-year-olds on Tuesday.
In Germany as well, calls are growing to relax the vaccination priority list to make sure no AstraZeneca shots go to waste. By February 23, 1.45 million doses had been delivered to Germany, but only 240,000 had been used.
The controversy has contributed to the government’s decision to move teachers and childcare workers from priority group three to group two. But some regional leaders are urging Germany to go further still.
“Not a single AstraZeneca dose should be left over or thrown out,” said Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder, in comments published Sunday.