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Australia has become the latest country to restrict the use of the AstraZeneca-OxfordUniversity vaccine, allowing it only for those over 60 years.
The limit earlier was for those over 50 years, but the further upward revision in age comes following reports of rare blood clots, according to foreign media reports. AZ did not comment on the development, but has in the past pointed out that the World Health Organisation and the European Medicines Agency had observed that the benefits of taking the vaccine outweighed its risks.
The AZ-Oxford vaccine is made and supplied in India by Serum Institute and industry voices told Business Line that labelling changes mandated by the foreign regulators from AZ to indicate additional side-effects, for instance, does translate to the vaccine produced in India as well.
On the regulatory front, though, there has been no additional caution in India, as officials say, they have not got reports of rare blood clots.
In April, this year, several Scandanavian countries had red-flagged the use of the AZ vaccine in young people, forcing regulators to revisit the side-effects data. The UK, homeground for the AZ-Oxford vaccine, restricts its use in those below 40 years, who are offered a choice of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
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