Germany: Vaccine Commission plans to recommend estrogen vaccine for the elderly

The German Vaccine Commission (Stico) is considering recommending an estrogen antiviral vaccine for people over 65 after a study showing its effects on the elderly in Scotland, its chairman said.

When asked if Stico could authorize the Swedish-British laboratory vaccine for everyone after the encouraging results of this study, Thomas Mertens said in an interview on public television: “It is possible and we will do it.” JDS Friday evening.

He said the commission would “soon publish a newly updated recommendation”, adding that details were still awaited from the authors of the study, which was led by the University of Edinburgh.

So far, the vaccine, which is less effective than its messenger RNA competitors, has been recommended for those under 65 years of age, a decision that has aroused suspicion among the population in Germany.

Although the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves its use in the European Union, regardless of age, for over 18s, the product has not gained much popularity in Europe.

German doctors and public health officials have recently appealed for the vaccine to be made cheaper and easier because tens of thousands of pots are not used in the country.

The chairman of the commission agreed that “all this has become worse”, justifying the decision in late January not to recommend the vaccine to the elderly due to the lack of data at the time.

“We have never criticized the vaccine,” he said.

According to a study conducted as part of a vaccine campaign in Scotland, four weeks after the first dose was given, the risk of hospitalization was reduced by 85% with the Pfizer / Bioentech vaccine and 94% with Astrogenica / Oxford. The vaccine did not arrive.

Among those over the age of 80, one of the most dangerous groups, the primary mixed results of both vaccines showed an 81% reduction in hospitalization.