Jab shakeup for under-30s after Oxford clot warning
AROUND 700,000 Scots under 30 will have to travel to mass vaccination centres in a shakeup of the jabs rollout.
Those aged 18-30 will not be given the AstraZeneca vaccine, which currently makes up almost twothirds of the programme, because of a small risk of blood clots.
They will receive either the Pfizer vaccine, which was the first to be deployed in December, or the Moderna jab, which was launched in Scotland this week.
Both must be kept in freezers, meaning that mass vaccination centres, such as Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Aberdeen’s P&J Live, and the
‘You have to adjust as you go’
SSE Hydro in Glasgow, are logistically the likeliest places they can be administered, instead of the local clinics set up across Scotland.
However, the change will not delay the target of offering all adults a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of July, Scotland’s national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said.
UK regulators have said there is a possible link between the AstraZeneca jab and ‘extremely rare’ blood clots and advised that people aged 18 to 30 be offered Pfizer, Moderna or other jabs.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not concluded the vaccine causes the brain clots, but says the link is getting firmer – though it insists the benefits of the jab outweigh the risks overall.
Hundreds of thousands of under-30s in Scotland have already had a first dose of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca if they are NHS or social care workers, unpaid carers or have underlying health conditions.
Those who received AstraZeneca will have a second dose of the same vaccine because there is no evidence of blood clots among those having second doses, and there is no evidence yet on how effective vaccines are if they are mixed.
More than 2.6million Scots have received their first jab. Professor Leitch said: ‘We know there are about 700,000 under-30s not presently vaccinated. Hundreds of thousands will have had at least one dose, and some will have had a second dose.
‘I don’t have deep details as we’ve only got this advice and we could not prep for this exact scenario. You have to adjust as you go – a course correction on the road.
‘But we are not doing 30year-olds now, so we have time. When we go to that stage, we may be asking them to travel a little bit more because Pfizer and Moderna are freezer vaccines, not fridge vaccines, and therefore the logistics of it are slightly more difficult and that might slow somewhere in those middle weeks.
‘But I believe we can get to July in time and the pace will be exactly as the supply allows it to be.
‘The advice remains the same. Come for your vaccine, get the second dose.
‘There is no data in the UK to suggest that anyone has had this complication after the second dose of the AstraZeneca.’
The evidence has suggested that young people are more susceptible to rare blood clots following vaccination than older people. Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘The risk that has been assessed and led to the advice yesterday is very, very, very, very, very small.
‘The blood clotting issues is very, very, very rare.
‘If you get the AstraZeneca jab today, it will be one of the least risky things you do, because the risk is probably lower than crossing the road.
‘Given the risks – particularly the older you get – of Covid, the benefits of being vaccinated with AstraZeneca or any vaccine vastly outweigh any minimal risk that might arise from it.’
Miss Sturgeon added: ‘We’re hopeful it won’t have a significant impact on the end of July target date.’
The UK has ordered 40million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 17million of the Moderna jab. It also has agreements with several other companies for vaccines that are still waiting for approval, including 100million doses from Livingstonbased Valneva and 30million from Janssen.