Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine IS safe and ‘likely effective’ for over-65s, World Health Organization rules as it officially recommends the jab ‘without an upper age limit’
Oxford University and AstraZeneca’s vaccine is safe and ‘likely effective’ for people over the age of 65, the World Health Organization said today.
The WHO has officially recommended the use of the vaccine in adults of all ages and said that doses should be spaced by between one and three months.
The statement is a hit back against European countries that criticised the jab and refused to use it among their older populations, claiming there was not enough proof it worked.
Countries including Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Poland and Italy decided not to roll out the vaccine to older people.
However today, Dr Alejandro Cravioto, a director at the WHO, said in a briefing that the jab could be given ‘without an upper age limit’.
Dr Cravioto said there was ‘no reason’ that places with the South African variant of the virus should not use the vaccine to keep down hospital admissions and deaths with the virus, in the wake of a study suggesting it may be less effective against it.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been the most controversial of all the jabs so far, with claims that it might give less protection among people over 65. But the World Health Organization today put some of the concerns to bed, recommending the jab for people ‘without an upper age limit’ (Pictured: A pharmacist in Hertfordshire loads a syringe with the vaccine)
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