A laboratory technician handles Covid-19 vaccine vials at Oxford University.
VINCENZO PINTO | AFP | Getty Images
British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca is fighting on several fronts this week, defending its coronavirus vaccine reportedly could be less effective in protecting the elderly and tackling growing tensions with the EU over its overdue supplies to the block.
On Monday, the pharmacist defended his vaccine based on reports from several German newspapers, Bild and Handelsblatt, that the AstraZeneca vaccine, created jointly with Oxford University, had a low efficacy rate (less than 10% and 8%, according to the articles). respectively) in those over 65, the main target group of the vaccine, as they are more at risk of serious illness and death.
They both cited unnamed German government officials who said the vaccine had a poor efficacy rate among people over the age of 65 and said this could affect whether the vaccine is authorized for use among people. great.
AstraZeneca responded Monday evening and said in a statement to CNBC: “Reports that the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is as low as 8% in adults over 65 are completely incorrect.”
“In November, we published data in The Lancet showing that older adults showed strong immune responses to the vaccine, with 100% of older adults generating uptake-specific antibodies after the second dose,” he added.
He said the UK Joint Vaccination and Vaccination Committee, which advises the government on its vaccination strategy, had supported the use of the vaccine in the elderly.
Participants in elderly trials were subsequently admitted to phase three of the AstraZeneca vaccine clinical trials, which took place in the United Kingdom and Brazil, and previously in South Africa, so that less data are available on the shooting effectiveness to those over 65 years of age. . Initial trials in the UK focused on children under 55 to examine whether the vaccine was effective for most healthcare workers.
When AstraZeneca published the findings of its trial in the medical journal The Lancet in December, it said, “As older age groups were hired than younger age groups, there was less time to accumulate. cases and, consequently, efficacy data in these cohorts are currently limited by the small number of cases, but more data will be available in future analyzes. ” CNBC has contacted AstraZeneca to comment after the reports.
On Tuesday morning, the German health ministry said there were no data suggesting an 8% effectiveness among the elderly for the AstraZeneca vaccine, Reuters reported.
Supply problems
Tensions have been rising since last week, when the drug maker announced that production problems would mean it would deliver much fewer doses to the EU than previously promised. The vast majority of the AstraZeneca vaccine for distribution in the EU is being manufactured in the UK
The EU was to receive 80 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, according to a senior unnamed official who spoke to Reuters last Friday, but the drug maker had informed the EU that the supply of doses would be reduced to about 31 million doses, a reduction of about 60%.
“This new timetable is not acceptable to the European Union,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement on Monday, noting that the EU could tighten rules on Covid-19 vaccine exports. .
“The European Union will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens and their rights,” he said, noting that “in the future, all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will have to to provide advance notifications whenever they wish to export vaccines to third countries “.
Any restrictions on EU vaccine exports could affect the supply of the Pfizer / BioNTech trait, made in Belgium, in the United Kingdom.
Commissioner Kyriakides said on Monday that talks with representatives of AstraZeneca “had led to dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity and insufficient explanation”.
He added that “EU member states are united: vaccine developers have contractual and social responsibilities that they must maintain.” The EU has asked AstraZeneca to provide it with a detailed vaccine delivery plan and when the distribution will take place, with future discussions set for Wednesday.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved for use by the European Medicines Agency, but Kyriakdes said it could arrive by the end of the week.
Concern over AstraZeneca’s supplies is added to that of Pfizer and BioNTech, who also warned in mid-January of a temporary reduction in production as they increased their production capacity.
Supply shortages are a severe blow to the EU, whose vaccine has already started (December 27) later than those in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The EU has bought vaccines as a bloc (although some countries have also pursued their own unilateral deals) with the distribution of traits based on population size, but vaccination costs in each country, including Germany, they have been very slow so far.