British regulator recommends limiting AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine to people over 40

After 242 cases of rare thrombi, the scientific committee that oversees the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus in the UK recommended on Friday that the AstraZeneca restricted to those over 40.

The committee had already advised in April that the serum AstraZeneca/Oxford be administered only to those over 30 years of age as far as possible.

The British drug regulator, the MHRA, announced at a press conference that it had registered 242 cases of rare blood clots in people who received the vaccine Oxford/AstraZeneca, out of the more than 28 million doses administered.

However, according to its director, June Raine, the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh the risks of the disease for “the vast majority”Of the population, especially older people, who are more likely to develop severe forms of COVID-19.

Due to these unusual thrombi, several European countries discontinued the use of the vaccine developed by the Anglo-Swedish laboratory under a certain age. AstraZeneca and scientists from Oxford.

In April, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that blood clots should be listed as a side effect “very rare”Of the vaccine AstraZeneca, while considering that the benefit / risk balance continued to be “positive”.

In addition to AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are currently licensed in the UK, which has one of the most advanced vaccination campaigns in the world.

Almost 35 million people have received a first dose, and more than 16 million the two necessary doses.