England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer today took a swipe at EU efforts to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine and said a new study showing just one shot offers dramatic protection against severe disease in older people ‘vindicated’ Britain’s approach.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam suggested that ‘non-adoption’ by ‘many countries’ in the over-65s of their populations was not scientific as he claimed that it was ‘not immunologically plausible’ that the life-saving jab would work in the 18-55 bracket and then not work in older age groups.
He told a Downing Street press conference that the data by Public Health England (PHE) published today which found the vaccine more than 80 per cent effective at preventing hospital admission around three to four weeks after the first dose ‘clearly vindicated’ Britain’s approach to mass inoculation.
Countries including France and Germany refused to approve the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s because of limited trial data, despite World Health Organisation (WHO) assurances it was fine to do so.
EU figures including French President Emmanuel Macron attempted to ‘manage demand’ for the vaccine amid a procurement row by lashing out at AstraZeneca and questioning its jab’s effectiveness in the over-65s before claiming that Britain had taken a risk by authorising it so soon.
As a result of the scaremongering, France has taken delivery of 7.7million doses since the roll-out began in December, but distributed just half – with just four per cent of the population getting any immunity at all.
Germany is having similar problems after Chancellor Angela Merkel, 66, said that she would not take the vaccine because she is ‘too old’ – causing millions to shun the jab with just 187,000 AstraZeneca shots having been administered in Germany out of 1.5million due to have been delivered by last week.
Now, scientists at the prestigious Institut Pasteur say France’s current pace of around 100,000 jabs a day is ‘insufficient’ to rein in the effects of the highly contagious UK variant which is spreading rapidly in France, while German leaders launch a PR campaign to encourage vaccine take-up in the over-65s.
Professor Jonathan Van Tam suggested that ‘non-adoption’ by ‘many countries’ in the over-65s of their populations was not scientific as he said it was ‘not immunologically plausible’ that the jab would work in the 18-55 bracket and then not work in older age groups. French President Emmanuel Macron added fuel to the fire by questioning its effectiveness in the over-65s
More than 20million Britons have now received their first dose of Covid vaccines, and about 800,000 people have been given both injections
This graph shows how the UK has outpaced the EU, including wealthy Germany and France, in administering the vaccines that will open the door out of lockdown
Charts from the PHE analysis show how the number of vaccinated people testing positive for the disease plummets by about 60 per cent after a month
Results among over-80s who got both doses of the Pfizer vaccines show the risk of infection plummets more than 60 per cent after the first dose. Efficacy after both doses is more than 80 per cent
How the Pfizer (left) and Oxford (right) vaccines compare in all age groups after one dose: The British jab appears more effective when just a single dose is administered
Asked about EU vaccine scepticism by Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley, Professor Van Tam said: ‘That was driven by the fact that there were relatively small amounts of data on the over-65s in the clinical trials available at that point in time for the AZ vaccine.
‘Our technical advisory committee – the JCVI – took a view which I share that it was not immunologically plausible that the vaccine would work in the age range 18 to 55 years of age, which is a lot of where the data ran out, and then not work in those older age groups.’
He added: ‘We took a view that it almost certainly would work. The PHE data have clearly vindicated that approach today and I’m not here to criticise other countries but to say that in time the data emerging from our programme will speak for itself and that other countries will doubtless be very interested in it.’
Responding to his remarks, Health Secretary Matt Hancock quipped: ‘Very diplomatic’ as he told the public: ‘I hope that right round the world people study this data and understand what it means – getting the AstraZeneca jab and Pfizer jab could save your life’.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer also said the data offered a glimpse of how the vaccine programme ‘is going to hopefully take us into a very different world in the next few months’.
At the Downing Street press conference, Mr Hancock announced that Britain will examine EU proposals for a Covid vaccine passport in the hope of reviving international travel for the summer holidays.
Professor Van Tam said there was still ‘great uncertainty’ around holidays on the continent – partly because Brussels’ vaccination programmes were behind the UK’s.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said plans for a ‘digital green pass’ will be set out this month, which would allow people to prove they have been vaccinated or show the results of coronavirus tests.
Ms von der Leyen said the digital green pass ‘should facilitate Europeans’ lives’. She added: ‘The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the European Union or abroad – for work or tourism.’
In other coronavirus developments:
- Downing Street confirmed schools will reopen on Monday, despite fears over a Brazilian strain of coronavirus that has been found in Britain;
- Ministers were accused of ‘over-promising’ about the prospects for summer holidays abroad as Labour demanded even tougher border measures to combat the threat from coronavirus variants;
- Drivers were fined flocking to beaches and beauty spots, while a woman was stopped while queuing for coffee just two miles from her home;
- Businesses based in the capital have said they will monitor Government guidance and are considering ‘hybrid’ working models as the country is eased out of lockdown.
The study, which has yet to be peer-reviewed, included more than 7.5 million people aged 70 and over in England. It also shows that infections where people display symptoms in the over-70s fall from around three weeks after one dose of both vaccines.
Protection against even developing symptomatic Covid-19 in the first place ranged between 57 and 61 per cent for one dose of Pfizer and between 60 and 73 per cent for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, the study found.
On top of the protection against symptomatic disease, people who had been vaccinated with one dose of Pfizer had an additional 43 per cent lower risk of emergency hospital admission and an additional 51 per cent lower risk of death, according to the study.
Meanwhile, people who had been vaccinated with one dose of the Oxford vaccine had an additional 37 per cent lower risk of emergency hospital admission, while there is currently insufficient follow-up data to assess the impact on death.
The authors said that ‘both vaccines show similar effects’, adding: ‘Combined with the effect against symptomatic disease, this indicates that a single dose of either vaccine is approximately 80 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation and a single dose of (Pfizer) is 85 per cent effective at preventing death with Covid-19.’
Mr Hancock told a Downing Street press conference the study was ‘extremely good news’. ‘In fact, the detailed data show that the protection that you get from catching Covid 35 days after a first jab is even slightly better for the Oxford jab than for Pfizer, albeit both results are clearly very strong,’ he said.
The results ‘may also help to explain why the number of Covid admissions to intensive care units among people over 80 in the UK have dropped to single figures in the last couple of weeks’, the Health Secretary added.
Professor Van Tam told the briefing the data ‘gives us those first glimpses of how, if we are patient, and we give this vaccine programme time to have its full effect, it is going to hopefully take us into a very different world in the next few months’.
Urging people to have their second doses, he added: ‘I think there’s quite a significant likelihood that a second dose of vaccine is going to mature your immune response, possibly make it broader and almost certainly make it longer than it would otherwise be in relation to a first dose only.’
That meant it was ‘absolutely critical’ that second doses ‘are still part of the course of immunisation against Covid-19 and no less important for that reason’.
Dr Mary Ramsay, PHE head of immunisation, said of the study: ‘This adds to growing evidence showing that the vaccines are working to reduce infections and save lives.
‘While there remains much more data to follow, this is encouraging and we are increasingly confident that vaccines are making a real difference.
‘It is important to remember that protection is not complete and we don’t yet know how much these vaccines will reduce the risk of you passing Covid-19 on to others.
‘Even if you have been vaccinated, it is really important that you continue to act like you have the virus, practise good hand hygiene and stay at home.’
Also at the press conference, Mr Hancock revealed that the UK is ‘working with international partners’ on the issue of Covid vaccine passports.
‘The EU is part of those discussions, as are several other countries around the world, and it’s obviously important work,’ he said.
‘What I’d also say is that in a sense this already exists because you need to have a test before you can travel to the UK and, as far as I understand it from the details set out today, the EU proposal is that certification includes both whether you’ve had the vaccine and also whether you’ve recently had a test for those who can’t get vaccinated yet, which is obviously particularly important.
‘Therefore it’s something that we’re working with them and others on and it matters that we get the details of this right for international travel.’
Prof Van Tam struck a cautious tone about foreign travel, saying: ‘We are still in a zone of great uncertainty about what the virus will do next. On top of that, many of the vaccination programmes in Europe – which is a place where we frequently go on holiday abroad – are running behind ours.
‘Clearly, whether we can go on holiday abroad to places such as Europe depends on what other countries will say and do in terms of foreign tourism. There has to be great uncertainty at the moment.’
Downing Street said Department for Transport officials will speak to the EU about the approach it is planning for the 27-member bloc.
The Government has said that once more is known about the impact of vaccines it could introduce a system to allow people who have had a jab to travel more freely internationally.
Officials want the UK to use its presidency of the G7 group of industrialised countries to help agree an international approach to the issue.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘We have said that we are looking at the issue of vaccine passports. As you can expect, DfT (the Department for Transport) will work (with) and do speak to countries across the world in terms of how they may look to introduce passports.’
The spokesman would not pre-empt the outcomes of the UK Government’s review. But ‘of course you can expect us to speak to the EU and other countries on how they may implement any similar sorts of policies’, they added.