UK Public Health Agency Advises Under-40s to Get Alternative to AstraZeneca Vaccine

By Cecilia Butini

The U.K. government's public health agency said Friday that the country's vaccination and immunization committee has issued new advice for people aged 30 to 39 to receive an alternative to AstraZeneca PLC's vaccine, citing precautions against a rare blood clotting condition.

The agency said the decision was made as infection rates are brought increasingly under control in the U.K. and the chance of a younger person becoming seriously ill with Covid-19 becomes smaller.

The option to forego the AstraZeneca vaccine should be exercised where available and only if this doesn't cause substantial delays in being vaccinated, the public health authority said. A previous decision had offered under-30 adults the option to get alternative shots.

The U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has so far up to April 28 received 242 reports of a rare blood clotting condition, which makes the overall incidence of cases 10.5 per million doses, according to the public health agency.

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 07, 2021 07:42 ET (11:42 GMT)

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024