The Spanish government announced Thursday to expand the use of the anti-COVID AstraZeneca to 60-69 years after having reserved it for 60-65 years the day after reports on the potential risks of the vaccine.
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Spain will “continue to vaccinate with AstraZeneca the age group of 60-65 years (…) and the next group to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca (will be) the age group of 66-69 years”, a said the Ministry of Health in a statement.
“The objective is to complete the vaccination of the population most vulnerable to COVID-19 as soon as possible,” said the ministry, which explains having taken this decision from “the information available after the press release from the European Agency for drug ”(EMA) on the potential risks of the Anglo-Swedish vaccine.
Other European countries have already taken similar measures. France reserves the vaccine for people aged 55 and over, and Italy, Germany and the Netherlands for those over 60.
Spain announced on Wednesday to reserve AstraZeneca’s vaccine for people over 60, following the latest findings of the EMA, so far limiting its decision to 60-65 years, pending evaluations for the group of 65-80 years.
The question then arises of knowing what to do with those under 60 who have only received one of the two doses required for this vaccine: give them the second dose, settle for just one or change the vaccine?
On this point, the Ministry of Health has indicated that it will communicate its decision “soon”.
The Spanish government plans to vaccinate 70% of the population by the end of August, like the European Commission.
To date, the country has vaccinated just over 6.4% (3 million) of its 47 million people with the two doses, and administered over 9.8 million doses in total, along with the other vaccines. by Pfizer / BioNtech and Moderna.