AstraZeneca reports good vaccine news for elderly as Ja hits one-day record
Published:Saturday | February 6, 2021 | 1:18 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
New trial data received by regulators in the United Kingdom now show that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is effective in the elderly, news which could quell fears among that category of people and their caregivers.
There had been questions raised about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines developed so far when it comes on to the elderly.
More information was demanded from the pharmaceutical company, which developed the vaccine with Oxford University.
“Since then, we’ve seen more data coming through from AstraZeneca as more people are completing the trial, which highlights again that efficacy in the elderly is seen, and there’s no evidence of lack of efficacy,” Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicines’ COVID-19 Vaccines Benefit Risk Expert Working Group, said at a media briefing.
Several European countries – including France, Germany, Poland and Sweden – have not yet recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccine be given to the elderly, citing insufficient clinical trial data.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is among those expected to arrive in the Jamaica within weeks and the elderly in Jamaica are among the first being eyed to be inoculated against the COVID-19 disease, which has claimed more than two million lives globally in the past year.
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton announced in Parliament on Tuesday that Jamaica would receive 249,600 vials of the vaccine within weeks.
In Jamaica, the number of detected COVID-19 cases has continued to climb. Some 263 new COVID-19 cases were recorded on Thursday, the highest in a 24-hour period since the start of the pandemic.
This from a total of 1,785 tests, resulting in a positivity rate of 14.73 per cent.
The health ministry said the figures were a cause for concern and reflect that there may be complacency setting in.
Two deaths were also reported with no recoveries.
Opposition spokesman on health, Dr Morais Guy, expressed alarm at the latest figures published by the ministry.
Guy has called for the Government to step up its social marketing programmes to ensure that all sectors of the society are fully engaged and have a clear understanding of the continuing danger posed by the virus to all social and demographic groupings.
The health ministry is monitoring some 3,797 cases across the island, but has a sharp focus on hotspot parishes such as Manchester, Kingston, St Andrew, St James and St Catherine.