PM rejects Germany’s ‘no over-65’ ruling on Oxford jab
BORIS JOHNSON has said he is not concerned by Germany ruling that the AstraZeneca vaccine should only be recommended for the under-65s, as he argued the evidence shows it “provides a good immune response across all age groups”.
The Prime Minister joined Public Health England (PHE) in defending the use of the jab, after a draft recommendation from Germany’s vaccination advisory committee yesterday said there was insufficient data to recommend it for those aged 65 and over.
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at PHE, acknowledged there had been “too few cases” of coronavirus in older people in Phase Three clinical trials to determine the level of efficacy in the age group, but said other data on immune response had been “reassuring”.
Mr Johnson, on a visit to Scotland, said he does not agree with the German ruling, as he backed the advice from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The Prime Minister told reporters that he was not concerned about the German ruling. He said: “The MHRA, our own authorities, have made it very clear that they think the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is very good and efficacious, gives a high degree of protection after just one dose and even more after two doses.
“The evidence they’ve supplied is they think it’s effective across all age groups and provides a good immune response across all age groups.”
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected to approve the vaccine for use in the European Union today, although it is not yet clear whether it will set an age limit, after health authorities in Germany said: “There currently is not sufficient data to assess the vaccination effectiveness from 65 years.”
Dr Ramsay said the vaccines are safe and provide “high levels of protection” against Covid-19, and “particularly against severe disease”. She added: “There were too few cases in older people in the AstraZeneca trials to observe precise levels of protection in this group, but data on immune responses were very reassuring.”
“The risk of severe disease and death increase exponentially with age – the priority is to vaccinate as many vulnerable people as possible, to protect more people and save more lives.”
Oxford University, which partnered AstraZeneca to develop the vaccine, stressed that its jab offers high protection against severe disease and prevents people needing to go to hospital.
AstraZeneca said in a statement: “The latest analyses of clinical trial data for the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine support efficacy in the over 65 years age group. We await a regulatory decision on the vaccine by the EMA in the coming days.”
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, pointed to the MHRA’s report, which said there were two cases of Covid-19 in over-65s.
The MHRA said: “There is limited information available on efficacy in participants aged 65 or over, although there is nothing to suggest lack of protection.”