GENEVA (AP) – Independent experts who advised the World Health Organization on vaccination on Wednesday recommended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine even in countries that presented worrying variants of coronavirus in their populations.
WHO expert advice is used by health officials around the world, but it does not equate to green light for the United Nations and its partners to send the vaccine to countries that have registered to receive the shots through of a global initiative. This approval could come after separate meetings of the WHO group on Friday and Monday to assess whether a list of emergency use for the AstraZeneca vaccine is justified.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is important because it constitutes most of the reserve accumulated so far by the UN-backed effort known as COVAX, which aims to deploy coronavirus vaccines to people worldwide. COVAX plans to begin shipping hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine worldwide by the end of this month, but that depends on WHO approval for the shot, vaccine stocks and the availability of countries to receive it.
But the vaccine has faced growing concerns. After an initial study suggested it might be less effective against a variant first seen in South Africa, the South African government struggled to adjust its COVID-19 vaccination program.
“Even if there is a reduction in the possibility of this vaccine having a full impact on its ability to protect, especially against serious diseases, there is no reason not to recommend its use even in countries that have the circulation of variants, “said Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, Chair of the WHO Expert Group.
Instead of launching a million doses of AstraZeneca as planned, South Africa’s health minister said on Wednesday that the government would begin immunizing health workers with the still unlicensed firing of Johnson & Johnson.
The recommendations of the expert group on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed at Oxford University in the UK, largely reflect those previously published by the European Medicines Agency and the British Medicines Regulator.
Cravioto said the AstraZeneca vaccine should be used in older age groups despite the lack of solid data, similar to advice from the EMA and Britain.
“That means people over the age of 65 should be vaccinated,” he said.
However, countries such as Germany, France and Belgium have stated that the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be used in the elderly, citing insufficient evidence.
WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan noted that the shooting of AstraZeneca requires storage at refrigerator temperature, not the much colder temperatures required by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the group has already recommended for to its use.
To date, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only one to have received an emergency use list from the WHO.
The expert group noted that “preliminary tests” showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine had reduced effectiveness against coronavirus variants that have appeared in Britain and South Africa. However, studies were too small to produce definitive results and scientists think the vaccines could be useful in reducing the serious disease, which would greatly slow the pandemic.
“Any decision to leave vulnerable populations completely unprotected is a risky decision at this time,” said Michael Head, a senior researcher at the University of Southampton. “Therefore, it is good to see that the WHO recommends the use of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine in all age groups, including older populations,” it said in a statement.
The WHO expert group also said international travelers should not prefer vaccine doses, saying this would “counteract the principle of fairness”, adding that there was still no evidence on whether vaccines would reduce the transmission.
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