Efficacy of AstraZeneca Covid Vaccine in elderly: UK regulators

LONDON: British regulators have received extra trial data from AstraZeneca that supports their view that the COVID-19 Vaccine; developed with Oxford University is effective in the elderly; a vaccine official said on Friday.

Britain has been rolling out the shot among all age groups after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was the first regulator to approve it in December, But some other European countries; have asked about the need for more data before; elders over 65.

Munir Pirmohamed; Chair of the Commission on Human Medicines’ COVID-19 Vaccines Benefit-Risk Expert Working Group said; British regulators had noticed the smaller number of under-65s in the data when they approved the vaccine.

As per an MHRA news briefing, “Nevertheless, there was no evidence (to suggest) that those people over 65 were not getting evidence of efficacy,”

“Since then we’ve seen more data coming through from AstraZeneca as more people are completing the trial; which highlights again that efficacy in the elderly is seen; and there’s no evidence of lack of efficacy.”

He added elderly people were generating strong immune responses and said that the most important thing was that both AstraZeneca’s Covid Vaccine and a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech were preventing serious disease and deaths.

EU has decided not to compromise on Covid  Vaccine Safety

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that the EU has decided not to compromise on Covid vaccine safety as she defends the slower pace of approval of shots in the bloc.

MHRA Chief Executive June Raine defended the regulator’s standards and says;

“I think our position is very clear in terms of the rigorous science that MHRA pursues in the interests of public confidence, public safety; and the effectiveness of these important vaccines,”

Also; The efficacy of a Covid vaccine is similar to the variant first identified in Kent; southern England, as previously circulating strains; Oxford University on Friday.