– It is not a B – VG vaccine

– No, AstraZeneca is not a beta vaccine. It’s a good vaccine, says FHI’s director of infection control Geir Bukholm.

There are two different reasons why you do not want to give this vaccine to the elderly now and why you do not want to give it to certain people in risk groups:

For the elderly, the lack of data from the studies is the reason. While for younger people with certain serious diseases, there is a difference in efficacy between the AstraZeneca vaccine and the RNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer.

This is the difference

While the RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have a protection rate of up to 90 percent, the estimate for the AstraZeneca vaccine is 59.5 percent and data from studies on the effect in the elderly are lacking.

There is no evidence to suggest that the AstraZeneca vaccine provides less protection against serious illness and death, according to the NIPH.

– But it seems that there may be a difference in protection against mild illness, says Bukholm.

This means that you are more likely to have cold symptoms if you have received the AstraZeneca vaccine than if you have received one of the RNA vaccines, but it is not as dangerous for most people.

Vaccine efficacy estimates are based on how many of those who participated in the studies and received the vaccine have gotten sick, but the estimates say nothing about where these people have gotten sick.

All three vaccines approved in Norway now have similar signs that they protect against serious diseases: In the AstraZeneca study, there were no cases of serious diseases in the vaccinated group after two doses and eight in the unvaccinated group. With Moderna it was zero to nine and with Pfizer it was zero to four, according to chief physician Sara Watle at FHI.

In this secret warehouse arrives the AstraZeneca vaccine:

But for some groups, it can be more serious. There are those who are so seriously ill that mild symptoms will be severe for them, or those who suffer from an illness that causes a weakened immune system.

– Those with underlying illnesses can generally get AstraZeneca. There is a small subset in which we think it is okay to receive an RNA vaccine, and these are the ones where the immune response is expected to be a bit weak.

He notes that although there is a lower effect estimate associated with the studies being used now as a basis, there will be other studies, and the vaccine may have a higher estimated effect with a different dosage range.

But that cannot be assumed now.

– We take no chances on this.

Click on the data box to see who will not get the AstraZeneca vaccine:

It is not uncommon for vaccines to have a 50% to 60% effect. According to FHI, the flu vaccine given annually in Norway has a protection rate of 60 percent.

Delays for those between 65 and 75

Because the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines must now be reserved for certain risk groups, and the AstraZeneca vaccine will not be given to those 65 and older, unvaccinated seniors will still have to wait a little longer.

– It depends on the rate of administration of the RNA vaccines. It is a bit limited in the first quarter, but it will probably rebound significantly in the second quarter. So you have a little lag, where the bottom group starts a little before they get AstraZeneca, says Bukholm.

He estimates the delay could be around three weeks for those between 65 and 75.

You will learn more about the effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine in older groups as more data from new studies are entered.

Is singing potentially more dangerous than talking? And those who raise their voices in the pub? Watch the saliva spread!

This is the good effect that the vaccine will have in those over 65 that has been questioned, not if it has more side effects in the elderly. As a general rule, the elderly have weaker side effects if there is a difference between the age groups, because they have a weaker immune response, but it also means that the elderly can potentially have a lesser effect from vaccines.

If you are offered a vaccine now, you may not be able to choose which vaccine you want. This is because priority is being given to RNA vaccines that are now reaching the groups believed to need them.

– Not because we don’t allow choices, but because we reserve RNA vaccines for the groups for which this vaccine is best suited based on the data that now exists, says Bukholm.

But there is no reason to wait and think that you would rather have another vaccine later, according to FHI.