WHO KNOWS BEST

GLOBAL HEALTH BODY CONFIRMS OXFORD JAB REMAINS EFFECTIVE AMONG OVER-65S

GLOBAL health chiefs vindicated Britain’s Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine last night when they insisted it will work in the over-65s.

The World Health Organization (WHO) rejected claims by French president Emmanuel Macron the jab was ‘quasiineffective’ in older people, and recommended its use in all adults.

It also backed Britain’s decision to space doses up to 12 weeks apart, reporting the vaccine is 63 per cent effective at preventing all coronavirus symptoms and backed its use in countries tackling new variants.

WHO director Dr Joachim Hombach said: ‘The immune response in people over 65 is almost the same as in younger people, and this makes us confident this vaccine is protective.’

EU countries such as France, Germany, Spain and Poland had advised against its use in the over-65s after inconclusive early studies.

Meanwhile, England’s deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam played down reports of a two-thirds cut in illnesses for people who have had their first dose of the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. ‘I would offer a lot of caution about leaked information,’ he said. But he did offer reassurance over fears about the South African strain of the virus, insisting it would not become dominant.

Prof Van-Tam also tore into anti-vaccine myths as he urged people from minority communities to get a jab, with figures showing white people are twice as likely as black people to have got one.

‘It just doesn’t care about the colour of your skin or where you live in the world,’ Prof Van-Tam told the BBC.

‘It just cares that you’re a human being and don’t have immunity.’

He also ruled out compulsory vaccinations and lashed out at ‘nasty, pernicious’ scare stories on social media.