Spain widens age limit for AstraZeneca jabs

The use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to protect against COVID-19 in Spain will be widened to include people aged 66-69, the health ministry announced Thursday.

Amid fears the jab may cause blood clots, the government had on Wednesday limited the vaccine to 60-65 year-olds.

"The aim is to complete the inoculation of the people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 as soon as possible," a ministry statement said Thursday.

The move was made based on advice from Europe's medicines regulator EMA which has encouraged countries to continue using the AstraZeneca product, saying its benefits outweigh the risks

The ministry said a decision would be taken soon on how to proceed with people under 60 who have already received one of the two recommended doses of the vaccine.

Madrid hopes to have 70 percent of the population vaccinated by August in line with the EU target.

But so far it has vaccinated under seven percent of its 47 million people with two doses and administered over 9.8 million doses in total.

Spain is among the European countries hardest-hit by the pandemic with more than 3.2 million infections and over 76,000 deaths.

© 2021 AFP