AstraZeneca vaccine: EU regulators recommend authorization of Covid-19 vaccine

AstraZeneca vaccine: EU regulators recommend authorization of Covid-19 vaccine

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The long-awaited decision by the European Medicines Agency came after several EU countries warned that doses of the vaccine were running low and deaths from coronavirus were piling up across the continent.

Last week, the EU and AstraZeneca were involved in a close dispute over the supply of vaccines. A week ago, the Swedish-British pharmaceutical giant said it would not be able to deliver as many doses as the European Union expected – changing the bloc’s vaccination plans.

The European Commission – which has ordered 400 million doses of AstraZeneca on behalf of EU member states and is about to start distributing the first across the block – said the delay was unacceptable and that the drugmaker must find a way to increase the supply.

The EMA authorization came a day after the German vaccine commission said it would not recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged 65 and over, citing insufficient data. The move further complicated distribution plans in Europe’s largest economy.

In response, an AstraZeneca spokesman said that the most recent analysis of clinical trial data “supports effectiveness in the age group over 65”.

German officials say AstraZeneca vaccine should not be given to people over 65, claiming lack of data
The dispute between Europe and AstraZeneca is unfolding in a terrible scenario. EU countries, including Germany, were running low on vaccines even before the AstraZeneca vaccine was authorized on Friday. American pharmaceutical company Pfizer had already slowed delivery of the vaccine to the EU that it developed with BioNTech while a factory was being renovated.

In Spain, the Madrid regional government stopped administering the first doses of the vaccine on Wednesday for the next two weeks to ensure that there is enough to provide the second doses to those who have already received the first vaccines.

Concerns over the expected shortage of vaccines Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech mean that some French regions, including Paris, will postpone or cancel appointments for the first injections, the French Ministry of Health said in a press release on Thursday.

The death toll from Covid-19 is increasing and the slow implementation of shots across the bloc is threatening a very fragile economic recovery from the pandemic. This week, only 2 out of 100 people received jabs in the EU, compared with 7 out of 100 people in the U.S. and 11 out of 100 in the UK, according to data from Our World in Data.
Earlier this week, AstraZeneca’s CEO, Pascal Soriot, told la Repubblica in Italy that at least three million doses would be sent to Europe as soon as the vaccine was authorized, and that the goal was to deliver a total of 17 million doses. doses until the end of February.
Europe has a shortage of vaccines. So, why are you struggling with AstraZeneca?

As the dispute continued on Friday, the European Commission published on its website the contract signed with AstraZeneca for the purchase of its vaccine for all EU member states.

The EU asked AstraZeneca to publish the contract, signed on August 27, after the company’s delays were announced. Details of the vaccine delivery schedule were taken from the published document.

The United Kingdom, whose regulator approved the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine on December 30, has been administering doses to people over 65 for almost a month.
In his report, the UK regulator, MHRA, said there was “limited information available on effectiveness in participants aged 65 and over, although there is nothing to suggest a lack of protection”.

Schams Elwazer, Nadine Schmidt, Claudia Otto and Chris Liakos from CNN contributed to this report.

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