Photo = REUTERS
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 27th (local time) that stocks are accumulating in European countries as distrust of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca (AZ) and Oxford University has grown.
According to FT, until the 26th, France had only used 16% of the 1.1 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine supplied. Germany released just over 20% of the 1.45 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine supplied to the market. Italy also used only about 200,000 out of 1 million.
The low supply rate of AstraZeneca vaccine is due to the fact that countries are restricting their use to the elderly until sufficient data on efficacy are available. In France, AstraZeneca vaccine is given only to people aged 50-64 and medical workers. In Spain, AstraZeneca vaccination was banned for those over the age of 55. Germany and Italy also do not vaccinate people over 65 years old.
The fact that the AstraZeneca vaccine is powerless against the mutant virus that originated in South Africa is raising distrust. Pfizer and Modena vaccines were also found to be vulnerable to South African strains, but AstraZeneca vaccines were analyzed to be ineffective.
As the stocks of AstraZeneca vaccines are accumulated, countries are preparing measures. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that “the vaccine is not without problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” but “it is not enough to make vaccination impossible.”
It is predicted that Germany will soon grant AstraZeneca vaccination to people over 65 years of age. According to the Guardian and others, Thomas Mertens, chairman of the immunization committee of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a German disease control agency, recently appeared on the German ZDF broadcast and said there is a possibility that the elderly can get the AstraZeneca vaccine. It will be released.”
Reporter Ahn Jung-rak [email protected]
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