In UK, they recommend giving the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine only to people over 40

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), the body overseeing the UK’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign, on Friday recommended that AstraZeneca’s vaccine be restrict over 40s, after recording 242 cases of clots.

During a press conference, Wei Shen Lim, of JCVI, clarified that citizens between 18 and 39 years old without previous pathologies, who have not yet been vaccinated generally in this country, may opt for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, if it does not “delay” your vaccination plan.

The committee had already advised in April that the AstraZeneca / Oxford drug should only be given to people over 30 if possible.

UK medicines regulator MHRA announced it had registered 242 rare cases of blood clots in people who have received the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, over more than 28 million doses administered.

However, according to its director, June Raine, the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh the risks of the disease for “the vast majority” of the population, especially the elderly, who are more likely to develop severe forms. of COVID-19.

Due to these unusual thrombi, several European countries have stopped the use before a certain age of the vaccine developed by the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca and scientists in Oxford.

In April, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said blood clots should be listed as a “very rare” side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while considering that the benefit / risk ratio was always “positive“.

In addition to AstraZeneca, the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are currently licensed in the UK, which has one of the most advanced vaccination campaigns in the world.

Almost 35 million people received a first dose and more than 16 million received the two necessary doses.

Source: agencies