By Syndicated Content
May 6, 2021 11:20 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will allow AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to be given to adults of all ages, reversing a previous decision that restricted it to people who are over 60 years old, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday.
Spahn also said Germany aimed to offer 12-18 year olds a vaccine by the end of August, provided regulators give approval for the BioNTech/Pfizer shot for that age group.
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Germany will allow AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to adults of all ages and aims to offer 12-18-year-olds a vaccine by the end of August as it seeks to speed up its rollout, Health Minister Jens Spahn has said.
The country’s 16 regional health ministers have agreed with Spahn to reverse a previous decision to restrict the AstraZeneca shot to people aged more than 60 years. He also said the current 12-week gap between first and second doses of AstraZeneca vaccinations could be shortened.
“Both these measures serve to further to accelerate our vaccination campaign overall,” said Spahn on Thursday.
Germany is doing away with limiting AstraZeneca jabs to priority group, and will instead make it available immediately to all adults, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday.
Millions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been safely administered in Europe, but concerns linger over a rare type of blood clot seen in an extremely small number of recipients, meaning that some people in early priority groups due to their age or pre-existing health conditions have been holding off on getting it, preferring to wait for another vaccine.
Health authorities have said that benefits of getting inoculated against COVID-19 far outweigh any risks, and Spahn said many people still waiting for an appointment for their first shot would be happy to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Ashley Bloomfield answers commonly-asked COVID-19 vaccine questions. Credits: Video - Newshub; Image - Getty Images
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused nearly 6.9 million deaths across the world, more than double the number officially recorded, a new analysis from the University of Washington s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimated.
Here s the latest from around the world overnight.
Asia-Pacific
India
India reported a record 412,262 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and a record 3980 daily deaths, as a second wave of infections swamps the health system and spreads from cities into the vast countryside.
With Delhi running short of ambulances, authorities have turned some of the city s ubiquitous three-wheeled autorickshaws into makeshift ambulances to ferry COVID-19 patients.