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 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 said more data is needed before it is given to those
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.
"Nevertheless, there was no evidence there, suggesting that those
people over 65 were not getting evidence of efficacy," he said at an
MHRA news briefing, asked by Reuters about efficacy of the shot in
the elderly.
"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
vaccine and a shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech were preventing
serious disease and deaths.
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 President of the European
Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said that
the EU has decided not to compromise on safety
as she defends the slower pace of approval of
shots in the bloc.
Asked about the suggestion that Britain had
compromised on safety and efficacy standards,
MHRA Chief Executive June Raine defended the
regulator's standards.
"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," she said.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William
James)
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