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 PARIS (Reuters) -France's public health authority has recommended
people under 30 be given Pfizer's Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine when
available instead of Moderna Inc's Spikevax jab, which carried
comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems.
The Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS), which does not have legal power
to ban or licence drugs but acts as an advisor to the French health
sector, cited "very rare" risks linked to Myocarditis, a heart
disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and
in a French study published on Monday.
"Within the population aged under 30, this risk appears to be around
five times lesser with Pfizer's Comirnaty jab compared to Moderna's
Spikevax jab," HAS said in its opinion published on Monday.
The decision in Paris came after regulators in several other
countries, including Canada, Finland and Sweden, had also taken a
more defensive stance on Spikevax over heart-related safety concerns
affecting younger people.
The European Union's drug regulator EMA last month approved
Moderna's booster vaccine for all age groups over 18, at least six
months after the second dose.
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 The EMA earlier this year said
that it had found a possible link between the
very rare inflammatory heart condition and
COVID-19 vaccines from both Pfizer's and
Moderna's vaccines.
However, according to the EMA, the benefits of
both mRNA shots in preventing COVID-19 continue
to outweigh the risks, the regulator said,
echoing similar views expressed by U.S.
regulators and the World Health Organization.
France's HAS said that its recommendation, which
would apply regardless of the vaccine's use as a
first, second or third "booster" dose, would be
valid until more scientific findings on the
matter are known.
For persons aged over 30, however, the authority
explicitly recommended the use of the Moderna
vaccine, saying its effectiveness was slightly
superior.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Susan
Fenton and Louise Heavens)
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