70+ people to get AstraZeneca's vaccine

The National Advisory Committee on Vaccines (KRAR) on Wednesday authorized the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 70 and older, said a press release issued by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

AstraZeneca's vaccine received conditional marketing authorization from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) at the end of January. At the time, KRAR recommended that the vaccine be given only to people under the age of 70 in Finland as there was very limited research data on the effectiveness of the vaccine in the elderly.

"Research data from Scotland and England in recent weeks show that the AstraZeneca vaccine provides as strong protection for the elderly after the first dose as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Therefore, there is no longer a medical reason for maintaining the upper age limit," said Ville Peltola, chairman of the committee, which operates under the THL.

Recently, some countries, such as Germany, France and Italy, also gave the green light for using the AstraZeneca vaccine on those aged 65 or older.

So far, people older than 70 in Finland have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

For practical reasons, however, the KRAR recommends that the vaccination of those over 70 years of age should continue primarily with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, because many older people have already received a single injection of it, and the second jab must be always the same as the first.

Currently, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is more widely available than the AstraZeneca product, the THL said in the press release.

The health authorities estimate that those over the age of 70 will receive their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine by the end of April. COVID-19 vaccinations have gained momentum in recent weeks as more vaccines have been introduced in Finland. The number of vaccines is expected to increase further in the coming weeks.

According to the THL, as of Wednesday, 515,218 people in Finland had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for about 9.3 percent of the country's population.