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“People with comorbid conditions can be vaccinated with AstraZeneca, including people 65 to 74 years old,” the country’s health minister said.
Last month, France approved the vaccine only for people under 65, the BBC reports. The authorities based this decision on the lack of data on the effects of the vaccine in the elderly. However, subsequent studies have shown that the vaccine is particularly effective in the elderly.
The vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, is widely vaccinated in the United Kingdom (UK), but several European Union (EU) member states, including Germany, still restrict its use to people under 65 years of age. The EU drug regulatory authority has approved the vaccine for all adults, but it is up to each Member State to decide its vaccination policy.
Speaking late at night about France on France 2 television, French health minister Olivier Veran said that people with comorbid illnesses could receive the AstraZeneca vaccine in polyclinics, hospitals and, for a few days, in pharmacies. People over the age of 75 will continue to be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at vaccination centers, he added.
In January, French President Emmanuel Macron said the AstraZeneca vaccine “was not very effective” in the elderly. At the time, the statement was vehemently rejected by UK officials and academics.
As more information emerges, French health officials are trying to convince people that the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca is as safe and effective as the others.
According to the French Ministry of Health, at the end of February, only 273 thousand were used. 1.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
In many EU Member States, vaccination programs are stagnating. In France, around 3 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine so far. more than 20 million people in the UK, although the population of these countries does not differ much.
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