EUROPE’S failure to give the AstraZeneca Covid jab to elderly people could be why the continent is seeing a new wave, a vaccine boss has said.
Due to rising infections, several countries are under new lockdown. Hospitals are being put under pressure by the increased number of admissions.
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Protests and outrage have erupted across the region due to new restrictions in Austria and Germany regarding mandatory vaccinations.
The UK has seen a high number of Covid cases, but it has not had to record any deaths or hospitalizations for several months. However, there are still hundreds of people who become seriously ill every day.
Vaccines have greatly reduced the connection between severe illness and infections that was so strong before.
Pascal Soriot, the chief executive officer of AstraZeneca, has suggested this may be because the UK used the company’s Covid jab, created by Oxford University, to protect the elderly.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It’s really interesting when you look at the UK – there was a big peak of infections, but not so many hospitalisations relative to Europe.
“In the UK, this vaccine was used to vaccinate older people. Whereas in Europe, people initially thought the vaccine didn’t work in elderly people.”
Asked if this was a mistake on Europe’s part that had led to the current wave of infections, Mr Soriot said: “I’m not saying there was any mistake by anybody.
“But there is still a lot of data that needs to be made available that we don’t have.”
In the early days of vaccine rollouts, the EU refused to give the AZ jab while the UK raced for doses starting in December 2020.
It was initially rejected by many countries because it did not have enough data to prove its effectiveness.
It wasn’t until March – three months after the UK – that France and Germany eventually approved the jab for elders.
Next came investigations into blood clots due to the jab. This led to several European countries suspending their rollouts, creating a domino effect.
Scientists were puzzled by this move. The World Health Organization encouraged nations to continue using it until they had more concrete evidence.
After you have completed the following: “plausible link”it was found that European countries changed their guidance to advise only seniors to get the jab.
Denmark has essentially stopped its use.
European countries have mostly focused on using Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, with a mix of Johnson & Johnson, China’s Sinopharm vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik V.
The UK’s first and second doses, respectively, of AZ or Pfizer are almost equally divided. Pfizer is almost exclusively responsible for booster shots.
Mr Soriot stated that the AstraZeneca vaccine caused a higher immune response than other Covid vaccinations, due to an increase in T cells.
T cells, a component of the immune systems, are believed to provide the longest protection against bugs (possibly years) but are more difficult to test than antibodies.
Asked if the AstraZeneca vaccine was why there had been fewer hospitalisations in the UK, Mr Soriot said: “What I am saying is that T cells do matter and in particular it relates to the durability of the response, especially in older people.
“And this vaccine has been shown to stimulate T cells to a higher degree in older people.
“And so we haven’t seen many hospitalisations in the UK – a lot of infections for sure, everyone’s talking about those.
“But what matters is are you severely ill or not? Are you hospitalised or not? And we haven’t seen so many of these hospitalisations in the UK.”
Mr Soriot explained: “The T cell response takes a little longer to come in, but it’s actually more durable. It lasts longer.
“Everybody is focused on antibodies, but you see those decline over time.
“What remains, and is very important, is this T cell response, and as soon as the virus attacks you, they wake up and come to the rescue and defend you.
“So you may be infected but they come to the rescue and you don’t get hospitalised.”
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