A decision not to use the Covid-19 vaccine for elderly people in some European countries could help explain why the virus is currently triggering high levels of infections in mainland Europe, the company's chief executive has said.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab may be giving those who received it more durable immune protection against the virus, according to Pascal Soriot.
His comments came as Dame Kate Bingham, the former chair of the UK vaccine taskforce, urged the government to do better in its preparation for future disease outbreaks. She said that the jab would have been delayed if it had been left to the normal workings of government.
Germany was the first European country to recommend not giving the jab to people over the age of 65 due to a lack of efficacy data. Italy, France, Poland and Sweden were the first European countries to recommend it, and many later reversed this guidance.
The European Medicines Agency reported a possible link between the vaccine and blood clot cases, and some eventually said it should only be used in older age groups. Europeans were initially reluctant to receive the jab, possibly because of the mixed messages.
Soriot was careful not to apportion blame, but said the high take up of the vaccine among elderly people during the UK's initial vaccine roll out might help to explain why hospital admissions in the UK have remained relatively low despite continued high levels of infections.
He said that it was interesting to look at the UK. There was a big peak of infections but not a lot of hospitalisations. In the UK, the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was used to protect older people, whereas in Europe, people thought the vaccine doesn't work in older people.
There is a lot of data that still needs to be made available that we don't have.
T-cells, immune cells that teach B cells about the nature of the viral threat, and directly kill infections, might be an explanation for differences in hospitalisation rates between countries.
He said that everyone is focused on antibodies, but they decline over time. The T-cell response is important. They come to your rescue when the virus attacks, and they defend you. It takes them a while. They come to the rescue and you don't get hospitalized.
T-cells matter and in particular it relates to the longevity of the response, especially in older people, and this vaccine has been shown to stimulating T-cells to a higher degree in older people.
Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said it would be difficult to attribute the differential shape of the curves for the surge of infections in the UK and other European countries to any single factor.
He said it would be foolish to attribute that to the different vaccine choices in different countries. I don't know where you would start.
