STA, 5 February 2021 - The national advisory committee on immunization has recommended restricting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 to people aged 18 to 64, due to a lack of data on the vaccine's efficacy in older people.
However, the committee, which acts as an advisory body to the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), has recommended giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to immobile persons at home, regardless of their age, according to a release posted on the NIJZ website.
This is because the vaccine, unlike messenger RNA vaccines (mRNA) such as Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, is more stable and can be transported ready for application to the vaccination point.
Since there are currently not sufficient data on the vaccine's efficacy in patients with chronic conditions, the advice is that those should rather be jabbed with mRNA vaccines.
The advisory committee recommends the AstraZeneca vaccine to be used as a priority in health workers who have not been inoculated yet, for education and childcare staff, institutionalised persons who have not jet received a jab, for staff and pupils in special needs schools, and for staff in other critical services.
A second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should be applied nine to 12 weeks after the first jab.
Slovenia has thus joined a growing number of European countries who have limited the AstraZeneca vaccine to persons under the age of 65.
Apart from the fact that it can be stored at standard refrigerator temperatures and that it is cheaper, the vaccine is also less effective than mRNA vaccines.
The first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine is due to arrive in Slovenia on Monday with inoculation due to start of Tuesday. It is expected to contain 9,600 doses, less than the initially expected 15,000.
A batch of 4,800 Moderna vaccine doses has arrived in Slovenia today, the NIJZ told the STA.
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