Referring to recent real evidence from the UK, a Canadian advisory panel on Tuesday updated its recommendation on the vaccine to include people over 65 years of age.
The recommendation of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) can be used by leaders of Canada’s provinces and territories to decide how the vaccine can best be used. The country’s health regulator approved the widespread use of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the end of February, but so far the NACI has not recommended it for people aged 65 and over due to insufficient evidence for the age group.
The two-dose vaccine has been authorized in Canada for patients older than 18 years.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks and that the vaccination should continue.
“Vaccination against COVID-19 will not reduce disease or death due to other causes,” the WHO said. “Thrombo-embolic events are known to occur frequently. Venous thrombo-embolism is the third most common cardiovascular disease worldwide.”
While Canadian public health officials say they are closely monitoring the situation in Europe and are waiting for more information from regulators, they say there is no evidence that the risk of taking the vaccine outweighs the benefits.
“Based on the information reviewed by Health Canada, the number of cases of thromboembolic side effects at this stage is lower than the doses that would be expected in the population vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” said Marc Berthiaume. said. a director at Health Canada, during a Tuesday technical briefing in Ottawa.
“Although all available vaccines in Canada are safe and effective, NACI still recommends that the initial doses of mRNA vaccines be prioritized in the context of limited vaccine priority for those with the greatest risk of serious illness and death and the greatest risk of exposure to COVID 19, ”reads the statement released on Tuesday.
Jamie Gumbrecht and Michelle Krupa of CNN contributed to this report.