Germany U-turns on AstraZeneca vaccine, now recommends for over-65s

In a major U-turn, Germany’s vaccine commission has now recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 for use on people aged over 65. The gap between vaccine doses will also be lengthened in order to give a first vaccine to as many people as possible. 

Vaccine commission recommends AstraZeneca jab for over-65s

The Standing Vaccine Commission (Stiko) at the Robert Koch Institute has revised its position on the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, and will now recommend it for use on older patients. The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the change in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. 

“The vaccine commission now recommends the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65 as well,” said Health Minister Jens Spahn. “This is good news for people who are waiting for vaccination. It means they can get vaccinated sooner.” 

Germany had previously only approved the British-Swedish vaccine for use on people between 18 and 65 years of age, saying it lacked sufficient data on the vaccine’s efficacy among older age groups. However, recent data has now demonstrated that the vaccine has a high level of effectiveness and safety for older patients as well. 

New studies from England and Scotland, where the vaccine is already being used extensively on older people, have shown that it is highly effective even after the first dose, reducing COVID-19-related stays in hospital for patients over the age of 80 by around 80 percent. In Scotland, this figure was as high as 94 percent. “The new data also shows that the vaccine is even more effective when the first and second jabs are administered 12 weeks apart,” said Spahn. 

AstraZeneca should help speed up sluggish vaccine rollout

Alongside the arrival of new data, the turnabout was also arguably driven by the sluggish pace of Germany’s vaccine rollout campaign. The decision not to use the vaccine on over-65s - who make up the majority of the country’s vaccine priority groups - has stagnated progress, as have a series of muddled communications on the government’s part, leading to the widespread public belief that the vaccine was less effective than the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna jabs, and that it caused more unpleasant side effects.

Many younger people who were first in line for a vaccine have therefore refused the AstraZeneca jab, leaving up to a million doses of the shot lying around unused in Germany. By approving the vaccine for use on older age groups, Germany hopes to pick up the pace of its vaccine rollout.