British regulators have received extra trial data from AstraZeneca that supports their view that the Covid-19 vaccine developed with Oxford University is effective in the elderly, a vaccines official said on Friday

Britain has been rolling out the shot among all age groups after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was the first regulator to approve it in December.

Munir Pirmohamed, chair of the Commission on Human Medicines’ Covid-19 Vaccines Benefit Risk Expert Working Group, said British regulators had noticed the smaller number of under-65s in the data when they approved the vaccine.

“Nevertheless, there was no evidence there, suggesting that those people over 65 were not getting evidence of efficacy,” he said at an MHRA news briefing. “Since then we’ve seen more data coming through from AstraZeneca as more people are completing the trial, which highlights again that efficacy in the elderly is seen, and there’s no evidence of lack of efficacy.