France's top health advisory body has approved the use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, four days after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light, but said the jab should only be administered to those aged under 65.
The Haute Autorité de la Santé (HAS), an independent body whose recommendations are usually closely followed by the government, said people aged 50 to 65 with health issues and medical staff should get priority access to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The decision makes AstraZeneca's vaccine the third shot available in the country after those of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
Its recommended use for those aged below 65 echoes similar advice from experts in Italy, Austria, Poland and Germany which said the vaccine should not be given to the elderly, citing a lack of sufficient data to recommend use in older age groups.
“There is still insufficient data for those aged 65+. We hope to have them in the coming weeks,” the head of the HAS, Dominique Le Guludec, told reporters.
The EMA said last week there were not yet enough results for people over the age of 55 to determine how well the vaccine worked in that group but it said it could still be given to older people.
Slow rollout
AstraZeneca's vaccine approval was expected to ease pressure on the French government whose vaccination rollout strategy has been severely criticised for being too slow.
As of February 1st, more than 1.6 million doses had been administered in France. That compared with an estimated number of close to 10 million in Britain.
The European Union, which last year agreed to buy up to 400 million doses of the vaccine for the bloc, is at the centre of a dispute with AstraZeneca over the speed of supplies.
French European affairs minister Clement Beaune said on Monday he expected first doses of the vaccine to arrive early next week at the latest.
In Ireland, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee wrote to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on Monday in relation to the authorisation of the AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s along with the rest of the adult population.
The expected authorisation of the vaccine means the administration of the jab to older people in Ireland is likely to start in the next 10 days.
