Filenews 27 May 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Citizens under the age of 50 are encouraged from now on to be vaccinated with MRNA vaccines, i.e. those of Pfizer and Moderna on the basis of the final communication of the Ministry of Health and the relative position of the majority of the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee who have placed this age restriction on the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This vaccine, however, will be available if there are stocks in Cyprus, since already the quantities that the manufacturer delivers to the Republic of Cyprus, as in the other European countries, are reduced compared to those that should have been delivered so far.
Indeed, as Health Minister Konstantinos Ioannou himself admitted in yesterday's statements, the quantities that Cyprus now expects are sufficient to cover, for the time being, those who expect to receive the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and argued that the needs of the vaccination programme, if necessary, will be met with the vaccines of other companies. As he stated, "201,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be received in June, 24,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, 35,000 Janssen vaccines and around 90,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which are sufficient for the second doses" and added that "there may not be quantities to give a new appointment for vaccination with this vaccine".
The company's unreliability with regard to the delivery of lots in Cyprus, the positions of scientists who, on Tuesday evening during the teleconferencing of the members of the EES, were also largely in favour of ending the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine with regard to new vaccinations and continuing to administer them only to people who expect to receive the second dose while simultaneously evolving the vaccination programme only with vaccines of technology mRNA, i.e. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines'.
This position was supported by the head of the EES Konstantinos Tsioutis, another member of the Commission and the scientific adviser of the Ministry of Health Christos Petrou who participated in the teleconference of the members of the Commission. Mr. Petrou also stressed in his statements the reduced number of vaccines of this company, saying that he recommends the continuation of the program with mRNA vaccines since there is no data to do a detailed analysis in Cyprus, while Konstantinos Tsioutis stressed in his own statements that he as a doctor, "after the death of the 39-year-old and the second serious incident involving a 40-year-old woman being treated in the Nicosia hospital, he can not suggest anything that might endanger other people", arguing that "it is necessary to annihilate any possibility in order to prevent other tragic events".
The remaining members of the EES in their final contributions to the Minister of Health, the majority of them in favour of the age restriction for people under 50; two members argued that if there are stocks of mRNA vaccines they should be promoted, with one of them giving the same age restriction as an alternative and two other scientists recommending that the age limit be set to people 40 years of age and under. One member of the EES did not make a specific recommendation and a second was verbally opposed, as of Tuesday evening, to the free choice of vaccines by citizens.
AstraZeneca's vaccine thriller ended in the afternoon, when the Health Ministry announced that "the majority of EES members, taking into account the improved epidemiological picture, the availability of vaccines and the benefit of the uninterrupted continuation of the vaccination programme, recommend the recommendation for preference of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna) in people aged 50 years and under. Therefore, the Ministry of Health adopts the recommendation of the majority of EES members and urges citizens under the age of 50 to choose an mRNA vaccine for their vaccination."
Clear placement of all for the second dose of AstraZeneca
All scientists, without exception, in their written contributions to the Minister of Health and in their public statements, stressed yesterday that citizens who have received the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and have not presented any problem should not hesitate to proceed to the second dose since the non-administration of the second dose is recommended internationally only for people who develop complications during their initial vaccination.
This position of the scientists was also underlined by the Ministry of Health in its communication stating that, "individuals vaccinated with the 1st dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should proceed normally with the 2nd dose of the vaccine, provided that they did not experience after the 1st dose any symptomatology of serious side effects (thrombosis syndrome/thrombocytopenia)".
In his statements, Christos Petrou stressed that "the recommendation is not to administer first doses due to stocks but to continue normally with the second doses of AstraZeneca vaccine as planned, because the second dose must be administered in order to be effective".
