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* Philippines suspends use of AstraZeneca shot in under 60s
* Afican Union drops plans to buy AstraZeneca shot
* Indonesia seeks Chinese vaccines to make up for AZ delays
* Australia recommends Pfizer vaccine for under 50s
April 8 (Reuters) - Australia and the Philippines limited
use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, while
the Africa Union dropped plans to buy the shot, dealing further
blows to the company's hopes to deliver a vaccine for the world.
The vaccine - developed with Oxford University and
considered a frontrunner in the global vaccine race - has been
plagued by safety concerns and supply problems since Phase III
trial results were published in December, with Indonesia the
latest country forced to seek doses from other vaccine
developers.
The Philippines suspended the use of AstraZeneca shots for
people below 60 after Europe's regulator said on Wednesday it
found rare cases of blood clots among some adult recipients
although the vaccine’s advantages still outweighed its risks.
Australia recommended people under 50 should get Pfizer's
COVID-19 vaccine in preference to AstraZeneca's, a
policy shift that it warned would hold up its inoculation
campaign.
The African Union is exploring options with Johnson &
Johnson having dropped plans to buy AstraZeneca's
vaccine from India's Serum Institute, the head of the Africa
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.
AstraZeneca's shot is sold at cost, for a few dollars a
dose. It is by far the cheapest and most high-volume launched so
far, and has none of the extreme refrigeration requirements of
some other COVID-19 vaccines, making it likely to be the
mainstay of many vaccination programmes in the developing world.
But more than a dozen countries have at one time suspended
or partially suspended use of the shot, first on concerns about
efficacy in older people, and now on worries about rare side
effects in younger people.
That, coupled with production setbacks, will delay the
rollout of vaccines across the globe as governments scramble to
find alternatives to tame the pandemic which has killed more
than 3 million.
'EXTREMELY RARE'
Italy joined France, the Netherlands, Germany and others in
recommending a minimum age for recipients of AstraZeneca's shot
on Wednesday and Britain said people under 30 should get an
alternative. South Korea also suspended use of the vaccine in
people under 60 this week, while approving Johnson & Johnson's
shot.
AstraZeneca has said it is working with the British and
European regulators to list possible brain blood clots as "an
extremely rare potential side-effect".
South Africa also paused AstraZeneca vaccinations last month
because of a small trial showing the shot offered minimal
protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the
dominant local coronavirus variant.
AstraZeneca is grappling with production issues that have
led to shortfalls of its shot in several countries.
Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on
Thursday the country was in talks with China on getting as many
as 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to plug a gap in
deliveries after delays in the arrivals of AstraZeneca shots.
India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of
AstraZeneca's shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII),
the world’s biggest vaccine-maker, as domestic infections rise.
That has affected supplies to the GAVI/WHO-backed global
COVAX vaccine-sharing facility through which 64 poorer countries
are supposed to get doses from the SII, the programme’s
procurement and distributing partner UNICEF told Reuters last
month.
Britain is slowing its vaccine rollout due to a shipment
delay from India and is at loggerheads with the EU over exports.
Australia has also blamed delays in its immunisation campaign on
supply issues in Europe.
AstraZeneca has cited reduced yields at a European factory
behind the supply shortfall to the European Union.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux worldwide; Writing by Kirsten
Donovan; Editing by Nick Macfie)
