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D Starting today, Germany will use the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine only in people over the age of 60, amid concerns about unusual cases of thrombosis reported in those immunized with the drug, BTA reports.
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn and provincial health ministers unanimously agreed to offer the vaccine only to people over the age of 60, unless they belong to high-risk groups with a more serious risk of COVID-19.
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The measure follows the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Immunization of the Robert Koch Institute and after the German health regulator released new data showing an increase in abnormal cases of cerebral thrombosis reported in some of those vaccinated with the vaccine. These side effects are mostly seen in younger women.
The news is another blow for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which plays a key role in Europe’s immunization campaign and is central to a global strategy to provide vaccines to the poorest countries.
Span said this was a hurdle on the one hand, but on the other hand it meant that more people over 60 could get vaccinated faster.
“In this sense, I can simply make a call to all people over 60 years of age to take advantage of this vaccination offer,” the minister emphasized.
Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the new age limit, saying it helps build confidence in coronavirus vaccines.
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“Confidence comes with the knowledge that all suspicions, all cases, will be dealt with,” he said in Berlin after consultations with the prime ministers of the federal states.
Merkel added that openness and transparency are the best way to deal with such a situation.
Earlier, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, a medical regulator, announced that 31 cases of cerebral thrombosis had been identified, which were suspected to have occurred after the injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Nine of these cases were fatal. All but two were found in women between the ages of 20 and 63.
