A senior receives an injection of AstraZeneca’s vaccine against Covid-19. – SOPA Images / SIPA
This is confirmed. The benefits of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine increase with age and continue to outweigh risks, such as blood clots, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday after a new study. The health authorities should also continue to administer the second dose within the time frame recommended by the laboratory AstraZeneca, whose vaccine is controversial since the reporting of very rare cases of thrombosis.
The European Commission had asked the EMA to conduct a new study following the concerns of several European countries which have chosen to limit the use of the vaccine developed by the Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca to the elderly. Denmark no longer uses it.
“Data has shown that the benefits of vaccination increase with age,” EMA Deputy Executive Director Noël Wathion told a press conference. “The benefits of Vaxzevria (the name of the AstraZeneca vaccine) outweigh the risks in adults of all age groups, as already confirmed by the agency,” continued Noël Wathion. The findings of this new study should be a “useful guide for member states when adjusting their vaccination strategies,” he added.
Half the number of thromboses in people over 50
Rare cases of blood clots have occurred in about one in 100,000 people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to the EMA. But the risk is higher in people between 40 and 49 years old (2.1 cases in 100,000), between 20 and 29 years (1.9 cases) and between 30 and 39 years (1.8 cases), according to the figures. of the regulator.
The risks are lower for older people: 1.1 in 100,000 in the 50-59 age group, one in 100,000 in 60-69 year olds, 0.5 in 70-79 year olds and 0 , 4 cases in people over 80 years old.
The study “clearly shows that the favorable effects of vaccination compared to very rare cases of blood clots increase with age,” added Peter Arlett, head of data analysis at the EMA.
The EMA said on April 7 that blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the vaccine. Rare cases of thrombosis should also be listed as a side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which uses the same technology as AstraZeneca, the EMA announced on Tuesday.
Noël Wathion added on Friday that the study shows that a second dose of AstraZeneca should continue to be given, between 4 and 12 weeks after the first. Despite reports that cases of blood clots were more common in women, the EMA said there was “not enough data available across the EU” to say the risks are gender-related .
For AstraZeneca, 287 cases have been recorded worldwide, including 142 in the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein), according to the EMA. Most of the cases seen with AstraZeneca are in women under the age of 60.
For Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, 25 cases of blood clots have been reported, 8 for Johnson & Johnson and 5 for Moderna, according to EMA figures released Tuesday. The European Commission is considering legal action against AstraZeneca, whose vaccine deliveries are significantly lower than initially expected.