Germany’s Health Ministry on Tuesday joined AstraZeneca in rubbishing reports quoting unnamed government sources that claimed the British-Swedish company’s Covid-19 vaccine showed little efficacy for people above 65.
Handelsblatt daily had reported on Monday that Berlin had estimated that the efficacy of the jab in people above 65 was just 8%, citing unnamed sources. Separately, Bild daily, quoting anonymous sources, put the efficacy rate at “less than 10%”.
But Germany’s Health Ministry said it appears that there have been some mix up in the reports.
“Around 8% of the volunteers in AstraZeneca’s efficacy studies were around 56 and 69 years old and three to 4% are above 70 years old,” said the Ministry.
“However, this does not mean that it is effective only in 8% of older people,” it added.
The company has also rejected the media reports on its vaccine efficacy in adults over 65 years as “completely incorrect”.
