Vaccine cleared for use on all adults in European Union

REGULATORS yesterday authorised AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union. The European Medicines Agency licensed the vaccine for use in people 18 and over, though concerns were raised this week that not enough data exists to prove it works in older people.

The shot is the third Covid-19 vaccine given the green light by the European Medicines Agency, after ones made by Pfizer and Moderna. Both were authorised for all adults.

Many countries on the continent have been struggling to vaccinate people as quickly as Britain, Israel, the US and elsewhere, and it was long hoped that the AstraZeneca shot would help speed things up. On top of news the drugmaker would supply fewer doses in an initial batch, there were concerns that an age restriction would further hamper

Europe’s vaccination programme.

Some doctors feared restricting the vaccine’s use in older people might worsen the pandemic’s impact, since older people have suffered more severe disease and died at a higher rate from the coronavirus.

But in its decision on Friday, the European agency said the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed with Oxford University, would be recommended for use on all adults. While the AstraZeneca

vaccine has been authorised for all adults in other countries, only 12% of the participants in its research were over 55 and they were enrolled later, so there has not been enough time to get results.

A large trial published last month showed the vaccine was about 70% effective in stopping people from getting sick from the coronavirus, although it is unknown whether the shot stops disease transmission.