No changes to AstraZeneca age limits
The National Vaccination Committee said on Wednesday that the country’s inoculation program is moving ahead without changes to the age limits for the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine, noting also that the risk of thrombosis is higher in women under the age of 50.
“The committee notes that the estimated risk of developing thrombocytopenic syndrome (TTS) after administration of this vaccine is higher in women under 50 years of age,” said the president of the National Vaccination Committee, Maria Theodoridou, during an extraordinary meeting, which, after taking into account the epidemiological data and the current spread of the virus, decided to recommend the continuation of the vaccinations according to the current program, based on which the AstraZeneca vaccine is given to anyone over the age of 30.
Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said the platform for scheduling appointments for all vaccines for the 30-34 age group opens on Saturday, as did the one on Wednesday for people aged between 35 and 39.
Moreover, the guideline is for both doses to be the same vaccine, except in cases of thromboembolic incidents after the first. Theodoridou noted that the appearance of TTS syndrome is even rarer after the second dose. Tellingly, in the United Kingdom only 15 cases were recorded out of a total of 9 million second doses.
As for Greece, she said that, to date, and out of a total of 905,915 vaccinations, five cases of the syndrome have been recorded, after the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
These cases concerned four women aged 36, 44, 47 and 61 and one man aged 35. One patient recovered and was discharged from the hospital, three are still being treated and one woman has died.
