Last week, a German vaccine advisory committee recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine only be used in 18-year to 64-year-olds, citing a lack of data on the efficacy of the vaccine in people over 65 years.
Subsequently, the European regulator, the European Medicines Agency, conditionally approved the vaccine for anyone over 18.
What can we make of this? Should we be giving this vaccine to older people or not?
While we do not yet have all the data we would like, we do not have reason to believe this vaccine will not be at least somewhat effective in older adults. To exclude them from receiving it would not necessarily be the right approach.
The recommendation
STIKO, a German vaccine advisory committee that reports to the country’s government, was responsible for the draft recommendation which caused the stir. It released a similar final recommendation at the weekend.
While the German government may elect to follow STIKO’s advice or the European Medicines Agency’s guidelines,…