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The Catalan health service will this Wednesday begin vaccinating the general population aged between 60 and 65 years with the AstraZeneca vaccine. This was announced by the acting Catalan health minister, Alba Vergés, after the central Spanish ministry raised the maximum age for the administration of the AZ vaccine from 55 to 65 years. "We have decided to vaccinate people between 60 and 65 years old, including people from essential service groups as well as the general population in this age group," Vergés explained in statements to the media.

Vergés explained that from this Monday night, messages will begin to be sent to people aged 60 to 65 so that on Wednesday, when vaccination is to resume, they can be vaccinated. The Catalan health service will also begin to contact workers in essential services who are not yet vaccinated, and in particular those over 55 who until now have not been able to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine as they were over the age limit which Spain had imposed.

Spain approves AstraZeneca up to 65

Spain's Interterritorial Health Council this afternoon approved the AstraZeneca jabs for administration to people up to the age of 65, whereas the limit until now in Spain had been 55. This was announced by the health minister, Carolina Darias, in a press conference in which she explained that shots with the AZ vaccine will resume this Wednesday.

Vaccination with AstraZeneca had been stopped due to some rare cases of thrombosis detected in people who had received it. However, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said last week that it had failed to establish a causal link between the blood clots and the vaccination, and urged countries such as Spain which had halted vaccination to resume it.

AstraZeneca for the over-65s?

Also this Monday, the results of a new pharmaceutical study have shown that the AstraZeneca vaccine is 80% effective in people over 65, based on  a Phase III trial being carried out by the company in the US.

The minister Darias has not ruled out that, if these findings are confirmed, the age cap for the AZ jab could be raised above 65. But vaccination of the general population will depend on the doses available. In this regard, Catalan health head Alba Vergés stated that this week only 16,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had arrived out of the 60,000 planned. She added that in the next three days it is estimated that 18,000 more doses will arrive, but the total will still fall well short of the expected 60,000.