Thanks to LANCELOT DIGITAL – The AstraZeneca vaccine is back
After a forced stop in the vaccination campaign motivated by the controversy that arose with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the rhythm of the same is activated again from this Wednesday. And it is that the Archipelago has reoriented its vaccination strategy after the AstraZeneca drug has been indicated for people up to 65 years of age. Thus, with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the vaccination process will continue in people over 65 years of age, giving preference to those who are older, and the administration of AstraZeneca will be resumed with people over 65 years of age. In fact, as of today, those born between 1956 and 1961 will begin to be cited to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca, a group made up of some 144,000 people in the Canary Islands.
The widening of the age range for this vaccine is based on the recent publication of studies that support the efficacy of the drug designed by the University of Oxford among people up to 65 years of age, explained the president of the Spanish Vaccination Association and head of Epidemiology of the General Directorate of Public Health of the regional government, Amós García Rojas.
Few people over 55 years of age participated in the clinical trials of the drug, so its effectiveness in this age group was not proven. “Some countries had decided to vaccinate above this age, but the approach of making a public recommendation not supported by evidence was complicated.” Now, once its effectiveness has been proven, everything changes.
Possible reluctance
Vaccination can face the reluctance of the population that has been triggered by the episode of thrombi. A YouGov poll showed this Monday that the majority of Spaniards, 52%, now consider the AstraZeneca vaccine to be unreliable. At the end of February, only 25% of those surveyed by this same company were reluctant.
The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has insisted that the latest analyzes to which she has been subjected have confirmed the idea that it is “safe and effective” and has also made it clear that if someone refuses to put it on, they will remain unvaccinated. He has also agreed to launch a communication campaign to overcome reluctance.
For those over 65, the exclusivity of messenger RNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) is maintained. In the coming weeks, those over 80 will be vaccinated and then the group between 70 and 79 years old will be vaccinated.
The decision has been made so late that it has coincided with the dissemination of the AstraZeneca study in the United States that demonstrates the high efficacy and safety of the drug in people over 65 years of age. The research, which corresponds to one of the phase III trials, shows that the vaccine is 80 percent effective in this age group.
According to this work, the vaccine demonstrated a statistically significant efficacy of 79% in the prevention of symptomatic covid-19 and a 100% efficacy in the prevention of severe disease and hospitalization.
