As per the announcement made on Tuesday by Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is both safe and effective for people over age 65.
This announcement is different from the announcement made by NACI itself on 1st March that AstraZeneca has not included enough people over the age of 65 in its clinical trials.
However, as per the committee, the real-world effectiveness studies on the vaccine helped them to change the recommendations, including evidence from Britain, which has been administering the vaccine to people over 65 years and older since January 2021.
But Germany, France, Italy, and Spain on Monday joined a list of European countries to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of blood clots in some recipients. However, AstraZeneca has been received by 17 million people in Europe and Britain found no evidence of an elevated blood clotting risk.
Canadians were assured by their Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe for use. As per the Canadian Prime Minister “Health Canada and our experts and scientists have spent an awful lot of time making sure every vaccine approved in Canada is both safe and effective”.
