U.K. expands age restriction for AstraZeneca vaccination

Some countries are making different decisions about the ages of people subject to vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Korea has decided to keep for now the current guideline, which only excludes people under age 30.

“The Vaccine Advisory Committee convened a meeting recently to reach a collective decision that the current situation does not require review to adjust the ages of people subject to AstraZeneca vaccination,” a source at the health office said Sunday. “The biggest reason for such a decision is that there was no case of reporting on rare thrombosis in Korea.”

The Korean health authority checked the possibility of adjusting the age restriction for AstraZeneca vaccination because certain countries revised the standards one after another.” The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) of the U.K. said Wednesday that “We recommend the use of other vaccines that can replace AstraZeneca vaccine in people ages 18 to 39.” Like Korea, the U.K. was restricting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine only in people under 30 years of age. Korea also set its age restriction for AstraZeneca vaccination to exclude people under 30 years of age by referring to the U.K.’s decision. Then, the U.K. government has now adjusted its age restriction to ‘people under 40 years of age.’ The number of people who will be vaccinated with the AZ vaccine will decline accordingly.

On the other hand, Germany has lifted age restrictions for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to Reuters, Germany is allowing all grown-ups to receive the AstraZeneca vaccination. Previously, Germany restricted the use of the AZ vaccine in people under 60 years of age. “The latest measure will help increase the speed of its Covid-19 vaccination in Germany,” said German health minister Jens Spahn.


ksy@donga.com