AstraZeneca vaccine: EU regulators recommend Covid-19 shot authorization

AstraZeneca vaccine: EU regulators recommend Covid-19 shot authorization

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The long-awaited decision of the European Medicines Agency came after several EU countries warned that they were running out of vaccine doses and that coronavirus deaths were accumulating across the continent.

Over the past week, the EU and AstraZeneca have been embroiled in a brutal dispute over vaccine supplies. A week ago, the British and Swedish pharmaceutical giant said it would not be able to deliver as many doses as the European Union expected – which would increase the vaccination plans of the bloc.

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

The EMA’s authorization comes a day after the German Vaccination Commission said the AstraZeneca vaccine is not recommended for people aged 65 and older, citing insufficient data. The move further hampered distribution plans in Europe’s largest economy.

In response, an AstraZeneca spokesman said the latest analyzes of clinical trial data “support efficacy in the age group of over 65 years.”

German officials say AstraZeneca vaccine should not be given to people over 65, citing lack of data
The dispute between Europe and AstraZeneca takes place against a serious background. EU countries, including Germany, have already vaccinated little for vaccines even before the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved on Friday. US drugmaker Pfizer has delayed the delivery of the vaccine it developed with BioNTech from the EU while a factory was upgraded.

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

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

The death toll from Covid-19 is increasing, and the slow rollout of shots across the block threatens a very fragile economic recovery from the pandemic. This week, only 2 out of 100 people in the EU got jabs, compared to 7 out of 100 people in the US and 11 out of 100 in the UK, according to figures from Our World in Data.
Earlier this week, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told Italian la Repubblica that at least three million doses would be sent to Europe once the vaccine was approved, and that the goal was to deliver 17 million total doses by the end of February.
Europe has a shortage of vaccines. Why then does he fight with AstraZeneca?

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

The EU has asked AstraZeneca to publish the contract, which was signed on August 27, following the company’s announcement of delays. The details of the vaccine delivery schedule have been deduced from the published document.

The United Kingdom, whose regulator approved the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine on December 30, has been giving doses to people over 65 for almost a month.
In its report, the British regulator MHRA said that “limited information is available on the effectiveness of participants aged 65 or older, although there is nothing to suggest a lack of protection.”

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

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