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BERLIN, April 1 (Reuters) - Germany's vaccine commission,
known as STIKO, recommended on Thursday that people under
60-years old who have had a first shot of AstraZeneca's
COVID-19 vaccine should receive a different product for their
second dose.
Earlier in the week, Germany said only people aged 60 and
over should be administered the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the
rare but severe occurrence of thromboembolic side effects. It
said it would make a separate recommendation later on younger
people who had already received a first shot.
In an updated recommendation on its website, STIKO said
there was no scientific evidence on the safety of a mixed series
of vaccines.
"Until the appropriate data is available, STIKO recommends
for people under 60 years old that instead of the second
AstraZeneca dose, a dose of an mRNA-vaccine should be given 12
weeks after the first vaccine," STIKO said.
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccinations include those made by
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
