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News > France

France Not To Use AstraZeneca for Second Dose for Patients

  • People line up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Nice, France, April 10, 2021.

    People line up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Nice, France, April 10, 2021. | Photo: Xinhua

Published 12 April 2021
Opinion

Over 500,000 people under 55 have received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine so far.

France's National Authority for Health (HAS) said that people under 55 who had received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should complete their inoculation with a second jab of a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine such as the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.

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It also recommended that the AstraZeneca vaccine should be administered only to people aged 55 years and over, following reports that blood clots affected younger vaccinated people.

Before the restriction, over 500,000 people under 55 have received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

As a single dose is insufficient for effective protection, the HAS now recommends completing the vaccination schedule for this population with an mRNA vaccine within 12 weeks of the first injection.

Currently, two mRNA vaccines, one from Pfizer-BioNTech and one from Moderna, are being used in France. AstraZeneca vaccine uses traditional adenovirus-vectored technology.

The HAS also recommends a study to assess the immune responses of dose-mixing vaccination. An Odoxa poll released on Thursday showed that 71 percent of French people refuse to receive AstraZeneca shots, while 70 percent said they have confidence in Pfizer jabs and 65 percent said they trust the Moderna vaccine.

As of Thursday, over 10 million people in France have got the first shot of a COVID-9 vaccine, representing 19.3 percent of the adult population, and 3.4 million have completed their vaccination, according to data released by the health ministry.

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