The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine should generally only be used for people aged 60 and over from Wednesday, German federal and state governments decided Tuesday evening.

 

People aged under 60 could be vaccinated with AstraZeneca "at the doctor's discretion and in the case of an individual risk analysis after careful explanation," according to the decision.

 

The decision was made on the basis of the currently available data on the occurrence of rare but very severe thromboembolic side effects, which occur 4 to 16 days after vaccination, mainly in people aged less than 60 years.

 

Regarding a second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to young people who have already received the first dose, Germany's Standing Commission on Vaccination will issue additional recommendations by the end of April, said a statement from this institution.

 

Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany continued to rise as 9,549 new cases were registered within one day, around 2,000 more than one week ago, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Tuesday.

 

To date, more than 2.79 million COVID-19 infections have been officially registered in Germany since the outbreak of the pandemic. The death toll climbed to 76,093 on Tuesday, according to RKI.