Public Health England (PHE) has defended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine after German advisers said there was insufficient data to recommend it for those aged 65 and over. It comes after a draft recommendation from Germany’s vaccination advisory committee said the jab should only be given to people aged 18 to 64 for now. Dr Ramsay said: “Both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are safe and provide high levels of protection against Covid-19, particularly against severe disease. Of these, 160 were aged 18 to 55, 160 were aged 56 to 69, and 240 were 70 or older. Those results found that all age groups, including older people, had an immune response to the vaccine after two doses.

Source: Irish Examiner January 28, 2021 15:00 UTC