AstraZeneca vaccination for children under 60 suspended in Germany

Germany has suspended the application of the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccines for children under the age of 60, after several confirmed cases of blood clots, the regional and federal ministries of health announced today.

Measurement it was announced ahead of a meeting between the federal government and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states It will follow a press conference by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Minister of Health Jens Spahn.

“We have decided, as a precaution, to suspend vaccination of the under-60s with AstraZeneca, ”said Berlin City Health Officer Dilek Kalayci.

Kalayci said the decision was made after the country’s medical regulator announced 31 cases of people who developed unusual clots cerebral blood vessels after receiving the vaccine and found that nine of them died.

The regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, said all but two cases have occurred women between 20 and 63 years old.

However, those under 60 who wish to inject it can do so but only after “consultation with a doctor who performs the vaccination and a personalized analysis risks, ”the ministers said in a press release.

Those under 60 who have already received a first dose They can choose to take the second or wait for the recommendation of the vaccination committee (STIKO) in this regard, which will arrive in principle at the end of April.

STIKO had earlier announced its determination to “recommends the AstraZeneca vaccine only for people over 60 years of age“.

The measure is supported by “the available data showing the unusual but very serious occurrence of thrombosis as a side effect“, affecting” mainly people under the age of 60 between 4 and 16 days after vaccination“, he detailed.

Several countries have suspended its use, totally or partially, after the detection of severe cases of blood clots, AFP news agency reported.

Germany resumed use of this vaccine in all age groups by mid-March, following the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and 2.7 million doses already delivered.

Also today, Germany announced that it will tighten its land border controls “over the next 8 and 14 days”, including with France, Denmark and Poland in the face of a new sudden coronavirus outbreak.

These controls will be carried out in a strip of up to 30 kilometers in German territory from the border and will be reinforced especially during the long Easter weekend, explained the Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer at a conference. Press.

however, the total restrictions that were supposed to apply during Holy Week have been revoked by Merkel in the face of the discomfort they have caused in business circles and in her conservative CDU party.

Health authorities reported 9,549 new infections and 180 deaths today in the last 24 hours. The country, one of the most affected in Europe and the world, already has around 2.8 million patients and more than 76,000 deaths.

The government this month extended until mid-April the strict partial containment measures in force since November, when it was decided to impose them due to a sustained increase in the circulation of the UK variant of the virus.

Telam Agency.