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Spain receives first AstraZeneca vaccines but it won’t be used on over 55s

Spain received its first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines on Saturday but it will only be used on people under the age of 55, according to the health ministry.

Published: 7 February 2021 14:02 CET
Spain receives first AstraZeneca vaccines but it won't be used on over 55s
Spain is the latest European country to limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Photo: AFP

Spain becomes the latest European nation to impose an age restriction on the Anglo-Swedish jab. It had previously said it would limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to under 65 year olds.

The move echoes earlier decisions by a growing number of countries in Europe that have restricted the vaccine's use despite the European Medicines Agency green lighting its use late last week for all adults.

“The public health commission, at a meeting on Friday and following scientific evidence, has approved setting as 55 the maximum age for people to get the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19,” the health ministry said in a statement.

Spain received 196.800 doses in its first shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines on Saturday.

Last week, the German vaccines authority advised against using AstraZeneca's vaccine for the over 65s, judging that there was “not enough data” on its effectiveness in this age group. 

The decision came just hours after the EU's medicines regulator gave the vaccine the green light for use in adults of all ages, saying it believed it would be safe for older people too.

READ ALSO: Can I choose which Covid-19 vaccine I get in Spain?

France followed suit on Tuesday and Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands and Sweden have taken similar steps. Switzerland has called for “additional studies” and although Italy approved the jab, it recommended using an alternative vaccine for the over-55s.

The Dutch Health Council said on Thursday that the vaccine's efficacy in people aged over 55 was unclear because only a small number of that age took part in clinical trials.

The age controversy compounds a row over a shortfall in deliveries from AstraZeneca that has forced the EU to recalibrate its vaccination strategy.

The AstraZeneca jab is only the third vaccine to be approved by the EU after those developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. 

However its efficacy is reported to be just 60 percent, compared with more than 90 percent for the others. 

Spain has so far vaccinated just under two million people and plans to have covered 70 percent of its population by the summer's end, a goal reaffirmed on Wednesday by the government despite shortages and delays in vaccine supplies. 

READ ALSO: How can Spain hope to beat coronavirus with 'vaccine wars' brewing?

Also on Wednesday, Health Minister Carolina Darias said Spain was “open” to the idea of using Russia's Sputnik V vaccine as long as it was approved by European regulators. 

Spain has been hard-hit by the pandemic, recording over 61,000 deaths from nearly three million cases so far.

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HEALTH

Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

Denmark's government has struck a deal with four other parties to raise the point in a pregnancy from which a foetus can be aborted from 12 weeks to 18 weeks, in the first big change to Danish abortion law in 50 years.

Published: 3 May 2024 08:06 CEST
Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

The government struck the deal with the Socialist Left Party, the Red Green Alliance, the Social Liberal Party and the Alternative party, last week with the formal announcement made on Monday  

“In terms of health, there is no evidence for the current week limit, nor is there anything to suggest that there will be significantly more or later abortions by moving the week limit,” Sophie Løhde, Denmark’s Minister of the Interior and Health, said in a press release announcing the deal.

The move follows the recommendations of Denmark’s Ethics Council, which in September 2023 proposed raising the term limit, pointing out that Denmark had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Western Europe. 

READ ALSO: 

Under the deal, the seven parties, together with the Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives, have also entered into an agreement to replace the five regional abortion bodies with a new national abortion board, which will be based in Aarhus. 

From July 1st, 2025, this new board will be able to grant permission for abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy if there are special considerations to take into account. 

The parties have also agreed to grant 15-17-year-olds the right to have an abortion without parental consent or permission from the abortion board.

Marie Bjerre, Denmark’s minister for Digitalization and Equality, said in the press release that this followed logically from the age of sexual consent, which is 15 years old in Denmark. 

“Choosing whether to have an abortion is a difficult situation, and I hope that young women would get the support of their parents. But if there is disagreement, it must ultimately be the young woman’s own decision whether she wants to be a mother,” she said. 

The bill will be tabled in parliament over the coming year with the changes then coming into force on June 1st, 2025.

The right to free abortion was introduced in Denmark in 1973. 

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