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Many German states today called for unused AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines to be administered to younger citizens, as concerns about potential side effects and efficacy and the recommendation to use them only for people under the age of 65 have led to a limited use of available doses.
The German Health Ministry announced this week that it has administered only 15% of the AstraZeneca vaccines available, confirming concerns that Germans are selective, which is slowing down the population vaccination process.
Older people are the first to get vaccinated, but Germany has suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccine be given only to people ages 18 to 64.
The EU drug regulators have declared it safe for all ages.
The prime ministers of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony told German newspapers today that if vaccines aimed at older Germans are not used, the age priority scheme should be relaxed, allowing younger Germans to be vaccinated with the design original.
“We don’t have room for vaccines to go unused and unused because they are rejected by those who deserve them,” Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. Center and in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung the Prime Minister of Saxony Michael Kretschmer.
Health authorities in some European countries, including Germany, are facing public rejection of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as side effects such as fever and myalgia have forced some front-line workers to take sick leave.
Other vaccines approved in Europe, made by Pfizer and Moderna, have also been linked to similar temporary side effects.
The German government on Friday called for citizens to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, while Institute Director Robert Koch Lothar Wheeler said data from Britain and Israel show it to be “very, very effective.”
The recommendation to use the vaccine only for people under 65 years of age came from the German Committee of Experts on the Use of Vaccines, STIKO.
Its director, Thomas Mertens, said on Friday that he would update his recommendation very soon.
“Somehow the whole story went a bit wrong,” he told ZDF.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
