Romania will expand the use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine to anyone over 18 years old, reversing a previous decision to administer it only to people up to 55 years old.

The decision was taken after "new scientific data emerged, the experience and decisions of other European countries, and the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the prevention of the infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus," the committee coordinating the national vaccination campaign said.  

It follows the recommendations of the Scientific and Medical Group of the National Committee Coordinating the Vaccination against Covid-19, the Health Ministry, and the National Medicine Agency (ANMDMR).

Germany, France, and Italy have approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for over 65s. 

The AstraZeneca vaccine is the third one in use in Romania, after the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna ones. 

Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, previously told television station Antena 3 that the decision to lift the age limit would be taken based on the available scientific data.

"This decision will be taken based on scientific data. I wouldn't want it to be understood that we lift this age limit because there isn't enough interest for this type of vaccine but because we have at least three important recommendations. There is the WHO recommendation, the data from the ongoing scientific studies and, at the same time, we have the UK's experience with several million patients showing the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine on people over 65," he said.

By March 8, 1,212,502 received the vaccine against Covid-19: 657,742 both doses and 554,760 the first dose. Of these, 940,582 received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, 78,312 the Moderna one, and 193,608 the AstraZeneca one. 

(Photo: Siam Pukkato/ Dreamstime)

simona@romania-insider.com