German draft recommendation adds to spotlight on AstraZeneca vaccine in EU

European authorities are under pressure after a sluggish start to the EU’s vaccination campaign in its first month, and the AstraZeneca vaccine would add much-needed extra supplies.

A member of staff holding a dose of the Oxford/Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine..

As the European Union’s medicines regulator prepared to consider clearing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use, a draft recommendation from a German expert committee called for offering it only to under-65s for now — adding to the spotlight on the vaccine.

And amid a heated dispute between the EU and the Anglo-Swedish company over its plans to deliver doses to the 27-nation bloc, the EU’s executive commission asked Belgian authorities to inspect a factory in Belgium that is part of the vaccine’s European production chain.