Men bellow 30 years to get only Biontech-Pfizer vaccine: THL

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has instructed municipalities to offer boys and men aged under 30 only the Biontech-Pfizer Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine, said the THL in a press release on Monday.

According to a Nordic follow-up study, the relative occurrence of myocardial inflammation is higher for Moderna's Spikevax vaccines than for Biontech-Pfizer's Comirnaty vaccine, and the risk of myocardial inflammation after vaccination is higher in young men than in women.

The study found that myocardial inflammation from coronavirus vaccines is nevertheless rare overall. Cases of myocardial inflammation occur all the time as a result of various infections also in unvaccinated people.

The highest occurrence of myocardial inflammation after vaccination has been observed in young men within two weeks of receiving the second mRNA vaccine dose. The risk for women and older men is significantly lower for both mRNA vaccines.

According to THL's guidelines, Spikevax can be offered to all women aged 30 or over and also to women aged under 30.

Comirnaty can be offered, as before, to all age groups receiving vaccination.

THL's guideline on the age limit for the Spikevax vaccine is a precautionary measure and will be reviewed in November as the results of the study become clear.

“The results now obtained are still preliminary. We are currently analysing them and assessing whether they give cause for more permanent changes to the recommendations for coronavirus vaccination in Finland,’ said Hanna Nohynek, Chief Physician at the THL.

Boys and men aged under 30 have received in Finland more than 95,000 first doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine and more than 42,000 second doses.

If a male under 30 years of age has received Moderna’s Spikevax as his first dose of coronavirus vaccine, Biontech-Pfizer's Comirnaty is offered for their second dose.

“The research results obtained in Finland and other countries on the administration of different vaccine products show that those who have received two different vaccines are at least as well protected against coronavirus as those who have received the same product on both occasions,” Nohynek added.