Improving-Europes-Confidence-In-Oxford-Jab-Is-Critical-Vaccine-Director

Among Over-70s, Protection Against Developing Any Symptoms Four Weeks After The First Dose Was Slightly Higher In Oxford/Astrazeneca Vaccine.

By Alistair Gray

The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said it was “disappointing in some senses” that some countries in Europe have been slow to offer The Coronavirus Jab Developed With Astrazeneca To All Age Groups, As Newly Released Data Confirmed It Was Highly Effective At Preventing Hospitalisation.

Professor Andrew Pollard described as “stunning” the figures from Public Health England, which showed the vaccine was more than 80 per cent effective at preventing hospital admissions in over-80s three to four weeks after a single dose. It was just as effective as the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.

Among over-70s, protection against developing any symptoms four weeks after the first dose was slightly higher in the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. Some European nations have been concerned about the lack of clinical trial data in those over 65.

“We’ve had all this difficulty with communication, particularly around Europe with uncertainty about the evidence,” Pollard said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Whereas in the UK we’ve been rolling out both vaccines in the confidence that they would give high levels of protection.”

Pressed about reluctance elsewhere to give the green light, he said it was “disappointing in some senses”, although he added that scientific committees in other countries were required to follow different rules in reaching their decisions.

Pollard added: “Around 5,000 people are dying every day from Covid across Europe. It just shows how critical it is to improve public confidence across the continent about the vaccines.”

“At no time has there been any concern about safety of any of the vaccines . . . All of the data has always suggested that we would have good protection in all age groups.”

This news was originally published at FT.