PARIS, April 8 (Reuters) – France’s leading health body says on Friday that recipients of a first dose of AstraZeneca’s traditional COVID-19 vaccine under the age of 55 should be given a second chance with a new style of Messenger RNA vaccine, two sources aware of the plans said Thursday.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Haute Autorite de la Sante (HAS), which is responsible for outlining the use of vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in France, is considering this possibility.
The HAS has now decided to proceed with the plan, the two sources said. Two mRNA vaccines, one from Pfizer and BioNTech and one from Moderna, have been approved for use in France.
Messenger RNA vaccines encourage the human body to make a protein that mimics a part of the virus, which triggers an immune response, while traditional vaccines like AstraZeneca use an inactivated virus to carry a protein from the pathogen – in this case the new coronavirus – to do the same thing.
A HAS spokesman declined to comment.
Vaccination programs have faltered in Europe and elsewhere over the past month, as it was found that very few mostly young recipients of the AstraZeneca shot had extraordinary blood clots, which led some countries to suspend their use as a precaution.
Most started shooting again, although some did so with age restrictions.
In France, the HAS on March 19 advised that only people 55 years and older should receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has already been given as a first dose to 500,000 people.
Although the numbers are small compared to the tens of millions vaccinated across the EU, a decision to give another shot will be important because the approach has not been tested in the late stages of human trials.
Germany was the first European country to recommend that people under 60 who had a first AstraZeneca survey should receive another product for their second dose.
Some experts believe that all the vaccines are targeted at the same outer “spike” protein of the virus, it could be complementary. But there is no evidence that this approach will be as effective. (Reporting by Matthias Blamont; editing by Kevin Liffey)