World

Norway will not offer AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to people over 65

FILE PHOTO: COVID-19 vaccinations in Stevenage
FILE PHOTO: Boxes of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are pictured in a refrigerator at a NHS mass coronavirus vaccination centre at Robertson House in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, Britain January 11, 2021. Joe Giddens/Pool via REUTERS

Bookmark

OSLO: Norway will not offer the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 to individuals over the age of 65, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Thursday (Feb 4), making it the latest European country to restrict its use.

So far, some 135,000 individuals in Norway have received their first dose against the disease and some 35,000 have received their second shot, from vaccines made by Moderna and from a partnership between Pfizer and BioNTech, the agency said.

The FHI said there had been few participants above the age of 65 in the trial conducted by AstraZeneca, meaning there was a lack of documentation as to the effect of the vaccine on older age groups.

The Nordic country has 5.4 million inhabitants.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

Source: Reuters