A scientific committee advising the Canadian government on COVID-19 vaccines has recommended on Monday halting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 55.
“There is substantial uncertainty about the benefits of providing AstraZeneca vaccines to adults under 55 years of age,” Canada’s deputy chief public health officer Howard Njoo said.
“At this time, we are pausing the use of AstraZeneca vaccine to adults under 55 years of age, pending further risk-benefit analysis,” he said.
Officials, meanwhile, urged Canadians who have received the AstraZeneca shot in the last 20 days to consult a doctor.
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“To date, no cases of (blot clots) have been reported in Canada,” Health Canada said in a statement earlier.
“However, through our ongoing international collaboration, Health Canada has become aware that additional cases of these events have been reported in Europe,” the statement said further.
The NACI earlier this month urged giving AstraZeneca shots only to people aged 18 to 64, then revised its recommendation to include people of 65 and over.
Canada is scheduled to receive 1.5 million surplus AstraZeneca doses from the United States, which has yet to approve its use domestically, on Tuesday.
Separately, Canada has ordered 20 million AstraZeneca shots plus another two million doses of the same formula made by the Serum Institute of India.
But as of last week it had distributed only about 500,000 doses made by the Serum Institute. Few went to younger people, according to local reports.
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The AstraZeneca vaccine has had a rollercoaster ride, with Britain, which developed it, staunchly supporting its use, South Africa outright rejecting it, and more than a dozen EU nations suspending shots in mid-March before most restarted rollouts but with a patchwork of age limits.
France has limited its use to over 55s, and Spain to under 65s, for example.
