PARIS – French President Emmanual Macron said on Friday that the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine appeared to be “almost ineffective” for people over the age of 65 – just hours before the EU’s drug regulator approved it. to be used in all adults.
“The real problem with AstraZeneca is that it doesn’t work as we expected,” Macron told a group of reporters, including POLITICO, in Paris. “We are waiting for the EMA [European Medicines Agency] results, but today everything indicates that it is almost ineffective for people over the age of 65, some say those over the age of 60 or older. “
Later in the day, the EMA gave the green light to the vaccine. He said: “There are still not enough results in older participants (over 55 years old) to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group. However, protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines; as there is reliable safety information in this population, EMA scientific experts have considered that the vaccine can be used in older adults. “
German experts said on Thursday that people aged 65 and over should not be given the AstraZeneca coronavirus jab, giving another blow to European vaccination efforts. The draft recommendation of a committee advising the country’s public health institute said more data is needed to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine in this age group.
AstraZeneca rejected the views of German experts, saying that the latest analysis of clinical trial data actually supports efficacy in those over 65 and that this information is expected to be published by the EMA in the coming days. A spokesman added that reports of low efficacy in adults over the age of 65 are not an accurate reflection of all data.
Macron said that the problems with the AstraZeneca jab will complicate the vaccination strategy in the EU, as it is largely based on prioritizing the vaccination of the elderly and health workers. He said another unforeseen twist was that vaccines that are more complicated to produce and store – those based on mRNA technology that have never been used to produce a vaccine – are the ones that seem to work best.
“What no one predicted, which is both wonderful and one of the aspects of this crisis, is that the vaccines that worked best were the most complicated … which means that in this crisis we say that Twingo lasts longer. much more to produce than Tesla, which we have never produced before, “he said, comparing the basic Renault model to Tesla’s electric car.
Although France is home to the Pasteur Institute, which spread the HIV virus and is named after the inventor of the rabies vaccine and other Big Pharma companies such as Sanofi, no French laboratory has yet produced an approved COVID-19 vaccine.
Macron questioned the strategy of some countries, including the United Kingdom, to give priority to a first dose of vaccine whose effectiveness is based on two doses taken within 28 days.
“If we look at the strategy of the United Kingdom – I am not a commentator on the strategy of others, but we must be very careful when comparing vaccination strategies. The goal is not to have the largest number of first injections, “he said.
“When you have all the medical agencies and industrialists who say you need two injections for it to work, with a maximum distance of 28 days, which is the case with Pfizer / BioNTech. And you have countries whose vaccination strategy is to administer only one jab, I’m not sure it’s very serious, “Macron added.
“When I hear scientists say we’re speeding up mutations with a single injection because the virus is adapting … we’re lying to people when we tell them they’ve been vaccinated by getting an injection of a two-shot vaccine.”
The vaccination campaign in France started slowly, compared to most EU countries and the United Kingdom, placing it close to the bottom of the rankings, although it has increased its speed in recent weeks.