Switzerland Rejects AstraZeneca Vaccine Approval... First Case in Europe

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[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Switzerland has rejected approval of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. This is the first time that the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been approved in Europe.

On the 3rd (local time), Swissmedic, Switzerland's pharmaceutical regulatory authority, did not approve the AstraZeneca vaccine, citing insufficient clinical data.

Although the European Medicines Agency (EMA) conditionally approved the vaccine for those aged 18 and over on the 29th of last month, there is still controversy in Europe over whether the AstraZeneca vaccine is effective for the elderly. This is because the proportion of elderly participants aged 65 and over in the clinical trials conducted by AstraZeneca and Oxford University was less than 10%.

Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, and Poland approved the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine but recommended that those aged 65 and over should not be vaccinated until additional data is available.

Switzerland maintains the position that new clinical results are needed. Swissmedic stated, "There are no clear results on the effectiveness for the elderly in the data released so far," and added, "We will wait for the large-scale Phase 3 clinical trial data currently underway in North and South America."

In response, AstraZeneca said, "Our vaccine is effective enough to have been approved in more than 50 countries worldwide," and "We will share new clinical results as soon as possible to obtain approval in Switzerland."

Meanwhile, Switzerland announced that it has placed additional orders for COVID-19 vaccines from other manufacturers on the same day. The COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Switzerland so far are Pfizer and Moderna. Switzerland began vaccinations at the end of December last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.