A laboratory technician handles ampoules of the Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford University.
VINCENZO PINTO | AFP | Getty Images
British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca is fighting on several fronts this week – defending its coronavirus vaccine from reports that it may be less effective in protecting the elderly and facing growing tensions with the EU over delayed supply to the block.
On Monday, the doctor defended his vaccine from reports in several German newspapers, Bild and Handelsblatt, according to which the AstraZeneca vaccine, created together with Oxford University, had a low efficacy rate (less than 10% and 8%, the newspapers said). , respectively) at the age of over 65, the main target group for the vaccine, as they are more at risk of serious illness and death.
Both quoted anonymous German government officials as saying the vaccine has a low efficacy rate in people over the age of 65 and said this could affect whether the vaccine is authorized for use among the elderly.
AstraZeneca responded Monday night, saying in a statement to CNBC: “Reports on the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine are up to 8% in adults over the age of 65 are completely incorrect.”
“In November, we published data in The Lancet showing that older adults had strong immune responses to the vaccine, with 100% of older adults generating peak-specific antibodies after the second dose,” he added.
He said the UK Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee, which advises the government on its vaccination strategy, has supported the use of the vaccine in the elderly.
Elderly participants were subsequently admitted to three clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which took place in the UK and Brazil, and earlier in South Africa, so there is less data available on the efficacy of the vaccine at the age of over 65 years. . Initial studies in the UK focused on the under-55s to examine whether the vaccine was effective for most healthcare workers.
When AstraZeneca published the findings of the study in the medical journal The Lancet in December, it said, “as older age groups were recruited later than younger age groups, there was less time for cases to be reported. accumulate and, as a result, data on the effectiveness of these cohorts are currently limited by the small number of cases, but additional data will be available in future analyzes. “CNBC contacted AstraZeneca for comments following the reports.
On Tuesday morning, the German Ministry of Health said there were no data suggesting an effectiveness of only 8% among the elderly for the AstraZeneca vaccine, Reuters reported.
Supply problems
Tensions have been rising since last week, when the drugmaker announced that production problems would mean it would deliver far fewer doses to the EU than previously promised. The vast majority of AstraZeneca vaccine for distribution to the EU is made in the UK
The EU was to receive 80 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine by March, according to a senior unnamed official who spoke to Reuters on Friday, but the doctor informed the EU that the supply of doses would be reduced to about 31 million doses, a discount of about 60%.
“This new program is not acceptable to the European Union,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a statement on Monday, warning that the EU could tighten rules on Covid-19 vaccine exports.
“The European Union will take whatever action is necessary to protect its citizens and their rights,” she said, adding that “in the future, all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will have to provide early notifications.” whenever they export vaccines to third countries. “
Any restriction on EU vaccine exports could affect the supply of Pfizer / BioNTech shot, which is made in Belgium to the United Kingdom.
Commissioner Kyriakides said on Monday that talks with AstraZeneca representatives “led to dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity and insufficient explanations”.
She added that “EU Member States are united: vaccine developers have societal and contractual responsibilities to support”. The EU has asked AstraZeneca to provide it with a detailed plan for vaccine deliveries and when the distribution will take place, with additional talks set for Wednesday.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved for use by the European Medicines Agency, but Kyriakdes said it could come by the end of the week.
Concern about AstraZeneca’s deliveries comes in addition to one from Pfizer and BioNTech, which also warned in mid-January of temporarily reduced production while improving production capacity.
Lack of supply is a bitter blow to the EU, whose vaccination action has already begun (on 27 December) later than those in the UK and US
The EU has purchased vaccines as a bloc (although some countries have also followed unilateral agreements), with shots to be distributed according to population size, but individual vaccination launches, including in Germany, have been very slow so far.