AstraZeneca: now also recommended for older people!
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.The vaccine from AstraZeneca can in future also be used in Germany on people over 65 years of age. Recent data from the UK show that the vaccine works very well even in the elderly. The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) has therefore adjusted its recommendation accordingly. That should accelerate the vaccination rate.
“This is good news for any elderly person waiting to be vaccinated. You can be vaccinated faster, ”said Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) according to FAZ on Thursday in Berlin.
While countries such as Great Britain inoculated the vaccine immediately after approval without any age restriction, seniors in Germany have so far only received vaccines from BioNTech / Pfizer and Moderna.
The reason: In the AstraZeneca studies on approval, the data on the effect in older people was very thin. That was not enough for the STIKO experts to recommend the vaccine for seniors as well. In the meantime, that has changed.
British data show high efficacy in the elderly
Great Britain had already approved AstraZeneca at the end of December as part of an emergency approval for all citizens aged 18 and over. Two large studies now prove the high effectiveness also for seniors.
The first includes around 650,000 people who received the first of two doses of vaccine in Scotland. Most of them were over 65 years of age. Compared to people of the same age who were still unvaccinated, their risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 infection decreased by 94 percent 28 to 34 days after vaccination.
A second study shows that the risk of getting sick at all drops dramatically after the first AstraZeneca vaccination for seniors. It is based on data from 7.5 million Britons over 70 years. Accordingly, the risk of being infected with Sars-CoV-2 decreased for the vaccinated seniors by 73 percent.
For the time being, both publications have only been presented as so-called preprints. This means: the data has not yet been checked by independent specialist colleagues. In addition, further data on effectiveness will follow after the second vaccination dose.
Uncertainty among the population
The hesitation of the STIKO, no matter how justified it may have been, has consequences: The AstraZeneca vaccine is less well received by the younger German population than the mRNA vaccines from BioNTech and Moderna. The initial age limit for use is considered to be a major cause of the lack of acceptance.
In addition, misunderstandings about the effectiveness of the vaccine have settled in people's minds. Wrong: In fact, AstraZeneca protects against serious disease and death just as reliably as the other two vaccines - namely, as the Scottish study suggests, to over 90 percent.
Even slight gradients are more common - for example cough or fever. Those who become infected after an AstraZeneca vaccination develop milder symptoms in 40 percent of cases, compared with only 5 to 6 percent of those vaccinated with mRNA.
Problems in vaccination logistics
But the skepticism towards AstraZeneca is not the only reason that millions of cans are still waiting in the warehouses to be used. Above all, major problems in distribution hinder the rapid progress of vaccinations. In addition, Germany continues to set aside vaccine for the second vaccination, while other countries vaccinate what they have and rely on subsequent deliveries for the second dose.
Based on the new recommendation of the STIKO, the vaccination appointment can now be adjusted quickly. It is to be hoped that people aged 65 and over will then receive the vaccine quickly.
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