[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] Following Germany, France has also recommended cross-vaccination of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca (AZ) and Oxford University with other vaccines.
On the 9th (local time), the French High Authority of Health (HAS) advised that individuals under 55 years old who received the AstraZeneca vaccine should receive their second dose with an mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccine.
Approximately 533,000 people are affected by this recommendation. Olivier V?ran (40), the Minister of Health and a former physician who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, is also included.
The mRNA vaccines approved for use in France are two types developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. mRNA vaccines work by injecting the antigen gene of COVID-19 in the form of mRNA into the body, which then produces antigen proteins and induces an immune response; this method has been commercialized for the first time. In contrast, the AstraZeneca vaccine was developed using a traditional method called a viral vector. The antigen gene is inserted into a harmless virus template, such as an adenovirus that only infects chimpanzees, and then injected into the body.
According to major foreign media such as AP and Reuters, Dominique Le Guludec, head of HAS, said, "It is a logical choice for safety," adding, "To win the war against the virus, all weapons must be used appropriately." Le Guludec also stated, "Our approach is not to conduct a massive experiment on the French population," and added, "We want to be cautious to prevent people from being exposed to very rare but blood clot-inducing incidents."
HAS recommended resuming AstraZeneca vaccinations, which had been temporarily suspended due to concerns about blood clot side effects, on the 19th of last month, with the condition that it be administered only to those aged 55 and older. This is because all patients who experienced blood clotting after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe were identified as being under 55 years old.
Earlier, on the 1st of this month, the German Standing Committee on Vaccination recommended that those under 60 who received the AstraZeneca vaccine receive their second dose with Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
According to AFP, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that there is insufficient appropriate data to determine whether COVID-19 vaccines can be cross-administered. Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson, said, "We cannot recommend COVID-19 vaccine cross-vaccination at this time."
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