A lab technician treats vials of Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine.
VINCENZO PINTO | AFP | Getty Images
British-Swedish drug company AstraZeneca is fighting on several fronts this week – it defends its coronavirus vaccine against reports that it could be less effective in protecting the elderly and faces mounting tensions with the EU over delayed deliveries to the bloc.
On Monday, the drug company defended its vaccine against reports in several German newspapers, Bild and Handelsblatt, that the AstraZeneca vaccine, made in collaboration with the University of Oxford, had a low efficacy rate (of less than 10% and 8%, according to the papers) . said respectively) in the over-65s, the main target population for getting the vaccine, as they are at greater risk of serious illness and death.
Both named unnamed German government officials who said the vaccine had poor efficacy in people over the age of 65 and said this could affect whether the vaccine is allowed for use in the elderly.
AstraZeneca responded Monday evening, saying in a statement to CNBC, “Reports that the efficacy of the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is as low as 8% in adults over the age of 65 are completely false.”
“In November, we published data in The Lancet showing that older adults showed a strong immune response to the vaccine, with 100% of older adults generating spike-specific antibodies after the second dose,” it added.
It said the UK Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunization, which advises the government on its vaccination strategy, has supported the use of the vaccine in the elderly.
Older subjects were later admitted to phase three clinical studies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which took place in the UK and Brazil, and previously in South Africa, and therefore less data is available on the efficacy of the injection in people over 65. The first studies in the UK focused on individuals under the age of 55 to investigate whether the vaccine was effective for most health professionals.
When AstraZeneca published its study results in the medical journal The Lancet in December, it said, “Since older age groups were recruited later than younger age groups, there was less time to build up cases and as a result there was efficacy data in these cohorts. limited by the small number of cases, but additional data will be available in future analysis. ”CNBC has contacted AstraZeneca for comment on the reports.
On Tuesday morning, Germany’s Ministry of Health said there is no data indicating an efficacy of only 8% among the elderly for the AstraZeneca vaccine, Reuters reported.
Delivery problems
Tensions have been mounting since last week when the drug company announced that manufacturing problems would mean it would deliver far fewer doses to the EU than previously promised. The vast majority of AstraZeneca vaccine for distribution to the EU is made in the UK
The EU was expected to receive 80 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine by March, according to a senior unnamed official speaking with Reuters last Friday, but the drug manufacturer had informed the EU that the dose offer would be cut to about 31 million doses. a discount of about 60%.
“This new scheme is not acceptable to the European Union,” EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Monday in a statement, indicating that the EU could tighten rules for the export of Covid-19 vaccines.
“The European Union will take all necessary measures to protect its citizens and rights,” she noted, having previously stated that “in the future, all companies producing vaccines against Covid-19 in the EU will be informed early on. should be asked whenever they want. export vaccines to third countries. “
Any restrictions on vaccine exports from the EU could affect the delivery of the Pfizer / BioNTech shot, which is manufactured in Belgium, to the UK
Commissioner Kyriakides said on Monday that discussions with AstraZeneca representatives “have led to dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity and insufficient explanation”.
She added that “EU Member States are united: vaccine developers have social and contractual responsibilities to fulfill.” The EU has asked AstraZeneca for a detailed plan for vaccine delivery and when distribution will take place, with further talks before Wednesday.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine has not yet been approved for use by the European Medicines Agency, but Kyriakdes said it could come by the end of the week.
Concerns about AstraZeneca’s deliveries come on top of those from Pfizer and BioNTech, who also warned in mid-January of a temporary reduction in production while increasing their production capacity.
Supply shortages are a bitter blow to the EU, whose vaccination program has already started (on December 27) ahead of that in the UK and US.
The EU has bought vaccines as a bloc (although some countries have also made their own one-sided deals) with injections that will be distributed based on population size, but the roll-out of vaccines in individual countries, including Germany, has been very slow.