NACI to say AstraZeneca vaccine OK for those over age 65: source

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toronto — The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is expected to change its stance on the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to now recommend its use for Canadians over the age of 65, a senior government source tells CTV News.

The source added that there will be a news conference Tuesday morning to confirm the details of the change.

Earlier this month, the NACI recommended that people over the age 65 should be prioritized for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines instead of the AstraZeneca version because there was more evidence concerning their efficacy in older people.

The NACI does not impose rules around vaccination. It only offers recommendations, which then allow provinces to tailor their own vaccination rollout plans to fit their needs.

Health Canada has stressed that "there were no safety concerns in this age group in the clinical studies, nor in the large numbers of seniors who have been vaccinated to date in countries that have already authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

On Monday, Germany, France, Italy and Spain joined a list of European countries to suspend use of the AstaZeneca vaccine following report of blood clots in some recipients, despite European regulators indicating that there’s no evidence to support that the vaccine is to blame for blood clotting.

AstraZeneca has also said that a review of 17 million people who’ve received their vaccine in Europe and the U.K. found no evidence of an elevated blood clotting risk.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured Canadians that the vaccine is safe for use.

"Health Canada and our experts and scientists have spent an awful lot of time making sure every vaccine approved in Canada is both safe and effective," he told reporters in Montreal. "Therefore, the very best vaccine for you to take is the first one that is offered to you."

In February, Public Health Scotland released a report indicating hospital admission due to COVID-19 fell 94 per cent after receiving the vaccine. Most of the 500,000 people involved in the study were over the age of 80.

Health Canada has said that the AstraZeneca vaccine has an efficacy of 62.1 per cent among people 18 to 64 years old.

In total, Canada is scheduled to receive 23.9 million doses of the vaccine.

With files from Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer Rachel Aiello and The Canadian Press