GERMAN PANEL WARNS ON USE OF AZ-OXFORD JAB FOR ELDERLY

BERLIN: Germany on Thursday cast doubt on the efficacy of Astrazeneca-oxford University’s Covid-19 shot for the elderly and recommended that the jabs should not be administered to people above the age of 65.

The shot is among the two vaccines granted emergency authorisation in India and is believed to be key to containing the pandemic in the country of 1.3 billion people due to ease of access to supplies and low pricing.

While the vaccine appears to work, there was insufficient information on the shot’s effectiveness for people over 65 years old, Germany’s immunisation commission, which evaluates vaccines for the government, said. Although the recommendations aren’t binding, they form the basis for state guidelines.

“The latest analyses of clinical trial data for the Astrazeneca/ Oxford Covid-19 vaccine support efficacy in the over 65 years age group,” the company said.

Participants in a final-stage trial were mostly younger adults. However, results from a midstage study by the University of Oxford, Astrazeneca’s partner, indicated the vaccine is better tolerated in older people and produces a similar immune response in old and young adults.

The panel’s report included unpublished data on the small number of older people in trials. Fewer than 6% of the volunteers in the study published last fall were age 65 or older, the commission said.