28 January 2021 - Ahead of its expected approval for use by Europe’s medicines regulator Friday, Germany’s vaccine committee has recommended against giving AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to people over the age of 65, citing a lack of evidence that the shot is effective in that age group.
The panel’s recommendation follows reports in German media that the vaccine is less than 10% effective in older people. Oxford and AstraZeneca pointed to published data showing strong immune responses comparable to those seen in younger people. Germany’s health ministry also dismissed the reports, suggesting that the newspapers had confused the statistics.