■ U.K. officials recommended a minimum age for the Astrazeneca vaccine.
U.K. authorities say adults 30 and under should be offered alternative shots
British authorities recommended Wednesday that the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine not be given to adults younger than 30 because of strengthening evidence that the shot may be linked to rare blood clots.
The recommendation came as regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union emphasized that the benefits of receiving the vaccine continue to outweigh the risks for most people, even though the European Medicines Agency said it had found a “possible link” between the shot and the rare clots.
British authorities recommended that people under 30 be offered alternatives to Astrazeneca. But the EMA advised no such age restrictions, leaving it up to its member countries to decide whether to limit its use.
Several countries have already imposed limits on who can receive the vaccine, and any restrictions are closely watched since the vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store than many others, is critical to global immunization campaigns and is a pillar of the U.n.-backed program known as COVAX that aims to get vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries.
“This is a course correction, there’s no question about that,” Jonathan Van-tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said in a news briefing. EU and U.K. regulators held simultaneous news conferences Wednesday to announce the results of investigations into reports of blood clots that sparked concern about the rollout of the Astrazeneca vaccine.
“The risk of mortality from COVID is much greater than the risk of mortality from these side effects,” said Emer Cooke, the EMA’S executive director.
Dr. Peter English, who formerly chaired the British Medical Association’s Public Health Medicine Committee, said the back-and-forth over the Astrazeneca vaccine could have serious consequences.
“We can’t afford not to use this vaccine if we are going to end the pandemic,” he said.
In some countries, authorities have already noted hesitancy toward the Astrazeneca shot.
“People come and they are reluctant to take the Astrazeneca vaccine. They ask us if we also use anything else,” said Florentina Nastase, a doctor and coordinator at a vaccination center in Bucharest, Romania. “There were cases in which people didn’t show up. There were cases when people came to the center and saw that we use only Astrazeneca and refused (to be inoculated).”
After the EMA announcement Wednesday, officials in Spain said Astrazeneca would be limited to people older than 60, and Italy issued a similar recommendation.
Belgium’s health minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, declared a four-week ban on administering the Astrazeneca vaccine to people younger than 56 but said that would have little impact on the vaccination campaign, since few from that age group are in line to get the shots this month.
Earlier Wednesday, South Korea had said it would temporarily suspend the use of Astrazeneca’s vaccine in people 60 and younger. In that age group, the country is currently vaccinating only health workers and people in long-term care settings.