AstraZeneca denies its COVID-19 vaccine is not very effective for people over 65, after German media reports said officials feared the shot may not be approved in the European Union for use in the elderly.
German daily papers Handelsblatt and Bild said in separate reports the vaccine - co-developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University - had an efficacy of 8 per cent or less than 10 per cent, respectively, in those over 65 years of age.
German officials were concerned the vaccine may not receive approval from the EU’s medicines authority EMA for use in the age group, Bild said in its online edition.
The reports mark another potential issue for AstraZeneca, which told the EU on Friday it could not meet agreed supply targets up to the end of March after running into vaccine production problems.
Frustration was already growing among European countries because Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced a temporary slowdown in vaccine supplies earlier in January.
In a written response, AstraZeneca described the German media reports as “completely incorrect”.
It said Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation supported the vaccine’s use in the elderly. It also said that a strong immune response to the vaccine had been shown in blood analysis of elderly trial participants.
Read more: AstraZeneca denies report vaccine less effective in elderly