COVID-19: AIFA OKs vaccine mix for under-60s (4)

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 15 - Italian medicines agency AIFA has approved giving people people a mix of different COVID-19 vaccines after the government decided to stop using the AstraZeneca jab with under-60s.
    This means that people younger than 60 who have had their first jab with AstraZeneca are set to get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for their second dose.
    Italy has stopped giving the AstraZeneca jab to under-60s, after links to bloods clots in younger people and the death of a 18-year-old woman after she had it.
    The Italian authorities had already recommended AstraZeneca be only given to over-60s, but this was not an outright ban and many regions had been giving it to younger people on a voluntary basis.
    The European Medicines Agency (EMA), however, has reiterated that it has approved the AstraZeneca jab for all adults, saying the benefits outweight the risks.
    Italy's COVID commissioner Francesco Figliuolo said the government was "re-planning" vaccinations with the regions and stressed "we have balanced with 11 regions to mitigate the disruption to citizens".
    He said experts were "studying" the use of other vaccines but the goverment's current plan was "sustainable".
    Campania Governor Vinvcenzo De Luca banned AZ and Jonson & Jonson for the over-60s while Friuli Governor Massimiliano Fedriga said regulatory bodies were "confused" over the AZ jab.
    (ANSA).