France’s public health authority has recommended people under 30 be given Pfizer Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine when available instead of Moderna Inc’s Spikevax jab, which carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems.
The Haute Authorité de Santé (HAS) which does not have legal power to ban or licence drugs but acts as an advisor to the French health sector, cited “very rare” risks linked to Myocarditis, a heart disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and in a French study published on Monday. HAS stated, “Within the population aged under 30, this risk appears to be around five times lesser with Pfizer’s Comirnaty jab compared to Moderna’s Spikevax jab.” The decision in Paris came after regulators in several other countries, including Canada, Finland and Sweden, had also taken a more defensive stance on Spikevax over heart-related safety concerns affecting younger people.
