Canada now recommends AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for those over 65

The scientific committee that advises the Government of Canada on immunization issues extended its recommendation on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday against COVID-19 in this country to people aged 65 and over. This is a turnaround for the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), which recommended in early March to limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 18 to 64 years.

The NCCI said in a statement that it had taken into account three recent studies on the efficacy of the vaccine “in real life” to support this change in recommendation. The committee initially limited the use of the vaccine to people aged 18 to 64 because of the “small” number of people 65 years and older who had participated in phase 3 clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

However, the ‘evidence’ from the UK, where the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical vaccine was given to people aged 65 and over, demonstrate “the high safety and efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly, especially against severe cases of COVID-19 and hospitalization,” NACI said.

The recommendation comes after a dozen countries, including Germany, France and Italy, stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution. following reports of possible blood clots, although for the moment no relation between these and the administered product has been demonstrated.

“For the moment, the Canadian Ministry of Health is monitoring the events, but considers that, given the risks associated with COVID-19 (…), it is best to continue to vaccinate with vaccines available in Canada, including AstraZeneca“, Explained a department head, Marc Berthiaume, during a press conference.

“Our recommendation is unrelated to what is happening in Europe”said NACI President Dr Caroline Quach.

The AstraZeneca vaccine lots received in Canada come from Serum Institute of India and are different from those incriminated in Europe, added Berthiaume. “The AstraZeneca vaccine is currently considered, based on the available data, to be safe, effective and of good quality,” he said.

However, the committee recommends, “in the context of a limited vaccine supply”, that people at increased risk of serious illness and death are given priority to receive doses of messenger RNA vaccines, such as those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. NACI says it will “revise your recommendation if necessary”.

Questions about the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe

The French President, Emmanuel Macron, announced Monday that France would temporarily suspend the use of the vaccine of the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company, pending an opinion Tuesday from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). “We are suspending it until tomorrow afternoon”, he said during a joint conference with the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, with whom he held the XXVI bilateral summit between the two countries in the French city of Montauban.

For its part, Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) also suspended the injection as a “precaution” and clarified that the measure was taken “as a precaution and temporarily throughout the territory”, pending the decision of the EMA. Last week, the AIFA had already suspended the inoculation of a batch of this vaccine, after the death of a soldier and a police officer in Sicily (south), which the Italian justice is investigating.

Earlier, Germany had suspended the use of the COVID-19 vaccine from the Anglo-Swedish laboratory “as a preventive measure” as announced by the Ministry of Health.

Anyway, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday that remained “firmly convinced” of the benefits of the AstraZeneca and Oxford coronavirus vaccine although several countries have suspended its use for fear of blood clots.

With information from AFP

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