Health authorities reviewing AstraZeneca vaccine side effects after blood clot concerns

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca/astrazeneca-woes-grow-as-australia-philippines-african-union-curb-covid-shots-idUSKBN2BV2BA?il=0

Australia and the Philippines limited use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, while the Africa Union dropped plans to buy the shot, dealing further blows to the company’s hopes to deliver a vaccine for the world. The vaccine - developed with Oxford University and considered a frontrunner in the global vaccine race - has been plagued by safety concerns and supply problems since Phase III trial results were published in December, with Indonesia the latest country forced to seek doses from other vaccine developers.

The Philippines suspended the use of AstraZeneca shots for people below 60 after Europe’s regulator said on Wednesday it found rare cases of blood clots among some adult recipients although the vaccine’s advantages still outweighed its risks.

Australia recommended people under 50 should get Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in preference to AstraZeneca’s, a policy shift that it warned would hold up its inoculation campaign.

The African Union is exploring options with Johnson & Johnson having dropped plans to buy AstraZeneca’s vaccine from India’s Serum Institute, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.

AstraZeneca’s shot is sold at cost, for a few dollars a dose. It is by far the cheapest and most high-volume launched so far, and has none of the extreme refrigeration requirements of some other COVID-19 vaccines, making it likely to be the mainstay of many vaccination programmes in the developing world.

But more than a dozen countries have at one time suspended or partially suspended use of the shot, first on concerns about efficacy in older people, and now on worries about rare side effects in younger people.

That, coupled with production setbacks, will delay the rollout of vaccines across the globe as governments scramble to find alternatives to tame the pandemic which has killed more than 3 million. Italy joined France, the Netherlands, Germany and others in recommending a minimum age for recipients of AstraZeneca’s shot on Wednesday and Britain said people under 30 should get an alternative. South Korea also suspended use of the vaccine in people under 60 this week, while approving Johnson & Johnson’s shot.

AstraZeneca has said it is working with the British and European regulators to list possible brain blood clots as “an extremely rare potential side-effect”.

South Africa also paused AstraZeneca vaccinations last month because of a small trial showing the shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the dominant local coronavirus variant.

AstraZeneca is grappling with production issues that have led to shortfalls of its shot in several countries.

Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said on Thursday the country was in talks with China on getting as many as 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to plug a gap in deliveries after delays in the arrivals of AstraZeneca shots.

India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of AstraZeneca’s shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine-maker, as domestic infections rise.

That has affected supplies to the GAVI/WHO-backed global COVAX vaccine-sharing facility through which 64 poorer countries are supposed to get doses from the SII, the programme’s procurement and distributing partner UNICEF told Reuters last month.

Britain is slowing its vaccine rollout due to a shipment delay from India and is at loggerheads with the EU over exports. Australia has also blamed delays in its immunisation campaign on supply issues in Europe.

AstraZeneca has cited reduced yields at a European factory behind the supply shortfall to the European Union.

 

[Robert]

[MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] - you are the perfect gentleman!

I missed you too.

Been thinking of re-engaging with pakpassion for ages, but just never found the right moment or time.

It's good to be back!

[MENTION=30006]Jadz[/MENTION] - not perfect, but I do my best.

I appreciate your calm wisdom and look forward to learning more about Islam from your next informative post.

 

[shaz619]

They were wrong, and so is our own government.

If there is any elevated risk of blood clots from taking AZ, which there isn’t I have a 1/250,000 chance of getting one. For young people it is 1/100,000. Still statistically insignificant.

Whereas I have bad odds of dying of COVID or being crippled by it if I don’t take it.

It’s a no-brainer.

So our government is only right when it suits your personal opinion, how can I take you seriously ?

Universally the scientists have agreed there is a blood clot risk but oh no, prophet Robert says otherwise. I expected better, never thought you’d go against the Science sir

 

[KingKhanWC]

So our government is only right when it suits your personal opinion, how can I take you seriously ?

Universally the scientists have agreed there is a blood clot risk but oh no, prophet Robert says otherwise. I expected better, never thought you’d go against the Science sir

I posted a link from an expert Norwegian team which concluded Oxford vaccine is the cause of blood clots. It was rubbished by plenty of posters here but now cannot be denied.

Robert will accept whatevever the UK government says, even if they flip flop like a rubber trampolinist.

The longer term effects are not known yet, watch this space.

 

[Robert]

So our government is only right when it suits your personal opinion, how can I take you seriously ?

Universally the scientists have agreed there is a blood clot risk but oh no, prophet Robert says otherwise. I expected better, never thought you’d go against the Science sir

Please stop making things up,

MHRA says a connection is not proven.

 

[Robert]

I posted a link from an expert Norwegian team which concluded Oxford vaccine is the cause of blood clots. It was rubbished by plenty of posters here but now cannot be denied.

Robert will accept whatevever the UK government says, even if they flip flop like a rubber trampolinist.

The longer term effects are not known yet, watch this space.

Me believe *this* government? )

Did you even read the post when I said the government is wrong?

 

[cricketjoshila]

Me believe *this* government? )

Did you even read the post when I said the government is wrong?

For many pakistanis in uk, Aztrazeneca vaccine is bad because a large number of it is manufactured and exported from India. It has nothing to do with the actual vaccine.

Soon Johnson vaccine will also be bad.

 

[King-Misbah]

For many pakistanis in uk, Aztrazeneca vaccine is bad because a large number of it is manufactured and exported from India. It has nothing to do with the actual vaccine.

Soon Johnson vaccine will also be bad.

What is wrong with your brain? Do you even think when you type? AZ is british/ Swedish company, hold your horses. My family got the AZ vaccine.

 

[cricketjoshila]

What is wrong with your brain? Do you even think when you type? AZ is british/ Swedish company, hold your horses. My family got the AZ vaccine.

A large number of the doses are made and exported from India. UK pakistanis are having a lot of issues with the vaccine. And that may be the reason.

 

[Jadz]

Even though i view it differently, i respect your opinion.

Glad that you are back.

Thank you!

 

[King-Misbah]

A large number of the doses are made and exported from India. UK pakistanis are having a lot of issues with the vaccine. And that may be the reason.

Who told you this? I see no issues and live here. India produces them but they are still a British product. Its like Apple phone may be produced/assembled abroad but it is still an American product. Stop making yourself look like an idiot.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Who told you this? I see no issues and live here. India produces them but they are still a British product. Its like Apple phone may be produced/assembled abroad but it is still an American product. Stop making yourself look like an idiot.

Is land rover or jaguar British or Indian?

Apple doesn't do license manufacturing. They do contract manufacturing. There is a difference.

 

[shaz619]

Please stop making things up,

MHRA says a connection is not proven.

Am not making things up, you’re delusional and maybe a bit too old and set in your ways to agree to be proven wrong, the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have agreed to offer under 30s alternatives to the Oxford vaccine due to a proven risk of blood clots, I know you’ve taken it and I don’t wish for you to get unwell or anything, but you’ve been conned

 

[ahsan17]

Is land rover or jaguar British or Indian?

Apple doesn't do license manufacturing. They do contract manufacturing. There is a difference.

License manufacturing is more similar to contract manufacturing than the jaguar scenario. The IP belongs to someone else, SII is just manufacturing and selling the product.

 

[cricketjoshila]

License manufacturing is more similar to contract manufacturing than the jaguar scenario. The IP belongs to someone else, SII is just manufacturing and selling the product.

Contact manufacturers usually dont have selling rights.

 

[MenInG]

A government panel of experts is investigating for any domestic cases of blood clotting, even mild ones, as a side effect of the two Covid-19 vaccines being administered in India, financial daily Mint reported on Friday, citing two people aware of the development.

India is currently administering AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, which is manufactured by the Serum Institute and branded Covishield, and a shot developed by Bharat Biotech called COVAXIN.

The review comes after Europe’s drug regulator said on Wednesday it found a possible link between AstraZeneca’s vaccine and rare blood clotting issues in adults who had received the shot, although it added the vaccine’s advantages still outweighed the risks.

India is banking on vaccinations to help contain a record surge in cases in its second wave. The country reported a massive 126,789 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

"We are looking at side-effects of blood clots that have been seen in people who received Covishield and Covaxin, even if it was a mild case," a source told Mint, who added that a report on it was likely to be ready by next week.

Following Europe’s announcement, several countries have announced restrictions on the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in younger people.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/229387...d-19-vaccines-after-blood-clot-warning-report

 

[Robert]

Am not making things up, you’re delusional and maybe a bit too old and set in your ways to agree to be proven wrong, the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have agreed to offer under 30s alternatives to the Oxford vaccine due to a proven risk of blood clots, I know you’ve taken it and I don’t wish for you to get unwell or anything, but you’ve been conned

You know, most people associate age with wisdom.

There is no proven risk according to the MHRA. Even if there is, my age group has a 1/250,000 chance of developing a clot according to current data. I’ll take those odds. I am more likely to be struck by lightning. I am *much* more likely to be killed or crippled by Coronavirus.

Sadly young people have not applied reason and succumbed to panic, so the Joint Committee is acting to handle their panic by offering a different vaccine.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca/countries-emphasise-importance-of-astrazeneca-shot-as-they-look-to-alternatives-idUSKBN2BW1MI

Australia said on Friday it had ordered more alternatives for the AstraZeneca vaccine, setting back its vaccination rollout, and Hong Kong delayed deliveries of the shot amid concern about a possible very small risk of rare blood clots. The Australian decision effectively puts paid to plans to have its entire population vaccinated by the end of October, highlighting the delicate public health balancing act the issue has created.

Millions of doses of the AstraZeneca shot have been safely administered around the world and millions more have been ordered but some countries have limited its use to older age groups as a precaution while cases of clotting are investigated.

Australia said it had doubled its order of the Pfizer shot after health authorities recommended that those under 50 take it instead of AstraZeneca, which had been the mainstay of its vaccination programme.

“It is not a prohibition on the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra. “For those who are over 50, there is a strong encouragement to be taking this AstraZeneca vaccine.”

The Anglo-Swedish company said it respected the Australian recommendation and was working with regulators around the world “to understand the individual cases, epidemiology and possible mechanisms that could explain these extremely rare events”.

European and British medicine regulators said this week they had found possible links with extremely rare cases of brain blood clots, while emphatically reaffirming the vaccine’s importance in mass vaccination against COVID-19.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) received reports of 169 cases of the rare brain blood clot by early April, after 34 million doses had been administered, Sabine Straus, chair of the EMA’s safety committee, said this week.

Most of the cases reported had occurred in women under 60.

On Friday, the EMA said that if a causal relationship is confirmed or considered likely, regulatory action will be needed to minimise risk. It also said it was looking into Johnson & Johnson’s shot over reports of blood clots.

The AstraZeneca shot is by far the cheapest and most high-volume vaccine launched so far, making it likely to be central to many of the worldwide inoculation programmes that are vital to curbing the global pandemic and averting damaging lockdowns.

Germany, one of several European countries which have recommended alternatives to AstraZeneca for people under 60, said on Friday a surge in infections meant a new lockdown was needed.

“Every day in which we don’t act, we lose lives,” Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, said. Hong Kong Health Secretary Sophia Chan said the city would delay shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine it had ordered this year to avoid other countries going short.

“We believe that AstraZeneca vaccines will not need to be supplied to Hong Kong this year, so as not to cause a waste when the vaccine is still in short supply globally,” she said.

The government was considering buying a new type of vaccine that may offer better protection, she added.

The Chinese-ruled city had ordered 7.5 million AstraZeneca doses, which were scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2021. But Chan said the global financial centre had sufficient alternatives.

Costa Rica said on Thursday it would use the AstraZeneca shot after assessing the EMA’s guidance.

More than 40,000 doses of the vaccine arrived in the country on Wednesday, the first delivery under an agreement for a million vaccines with the COVAX mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO) and GAVI alliance to ensure vaccines reach poorer states.

All the countries recommending age limits have emphasised that the vaccine is effective and its benefits far outweigh the risks of catching COVID-19 for older people.

The top health body in France, where vaccine hesitancy is high, recommended on Friday that those over 55 who had received a first dose of the AstraZeneca shot be given an alternative for the second one.

The Haute Autorite de la Sante suggested they get a new-style messenger-RNA vaccine, confirming an earlier Reuters exclusive. Two such vaccines, one from Pfizer and BioNTech and another from Moderna, have been approved for use in France.

Messenger RNA vaccines prompt the human body to make a protein that mimics part of the virus, triggering an immune response. AstraZeneca’s shot generates an immune response using a harmless, weakened version of a chimpanzee common cold virus.

The French health body also said there should be an interval of 12 weeks between the two shots in such cases and recommended a study to assess the immune responses given by these mixed vaccine prescriptions.

 

[BreadPakoda]

You know, most people associate age with wisdom.

There is no proven risk according to the MHRA. Even if there is, my age group has a 1/250,000 chance of developing a clot according to current data. I’ll take those odds. I am more likely to be struck by lightning. I am *much* more likely to be killed or crippled by Coronavirus.

Sadly young people have not applied reason and succumbed to panic, so the Joint Committee is acting to handle their panic by offering a different vaccine.

Its not about panic. Some people don't want to take the risk and that should be easy to understand. Not everyone has the same risk profile.

 

[Tubs]

You know, most people associate age with wisdom.

There is no proven risk according to the MHRA. Even if there is, my age group has a 1/250,000 chance of developing a clot according to current data. I’ll take those odds. I am more likely to be struck by lightning. I am *much* more likely to be killed or crippled by Coronavirus.

Sadly young people have not applied reason and succumbed to panic, so the Joint Committee is acting to handle their panic by offering a different vaccine.

Glad to see you're still fighting the good fight, Robert. So many people simply want the vaccine to be demonstrably dangerous to confirm the anti-science, anti-vax preconceived notions.

 

[Jadz]

[MENTION=30006]Jadz[/MENTION] - not perfect, but I do my best.

I appreciate your calm wisdom and look forward to learning more about Islam from your next informative post.

[MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] - apologies for the delay in replying to you, I became side-tracked.

As always, humbled by your kind words. I look forward to learning from you, as well as from my Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian and non-believer brethren.

 

[ahsan17]

You know, most people associate age with wisdom.

There is no proven risk according to the MHRA. Even if there is, my age group has a 1/250,000 chance of developing a clot according to current data. I’ll take those odds. I am more likely to be struck by lightning. I am *much* more likely to be killed or crippled by Coronavirus.

Sadly young people have not applied reason and succumbed to panic, so the Joint Committee is acting to handle their panic by offering a different vaccine.

Actually the odds of getting struck by lightning are twice as less. Odds of dying by coronavirus are higher only if you get infected.

I was initially not concerned about these clots, but that was when they reported like 5 cases in the UK. The odds, even though very low, aren't worth it if other vaccines like Pfizer or Moderna are available. However if there were no other vaccines available I would agree that it would still be worth taking the AZ vaccine.

 

[DoosraTeesra]

I have taken the first dose AZ vaccine in the third week of March. Reading all about the clotting is making me very nervous and panicky to say the least and certainly very unsure if i should even proceed to get the second dose scheduled for in Mid-June.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-says-it-has-yet-decide-legal-case-against-astrazeneca-2021-04-22/

The European Commission said on Wednesday no decision had yet been taken on whether to launch legal action against AstraZeneca (AZN.L), after Ireland's health minister said the case had been initiated.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on Thursday told the Irish parliament that "a legal case has been initiated by the commission and earlier this week I have joined Ireland as one of the parties to that legal case".

A spokesman for the European Commission later said, however, that a final decision had not yet been taken.

"No decision to launch legal actions has been taken at this point in time," a spokesman for the commission said.

Donnelly's department did not respond to a request for comment.

Source familiar with the situation have told Reuters the commission was working on legal proceedings after the drugmaker cut deliveries to the European Union. The sources said the matter was discussed at a meeting on Wednesday, but some EU member states wanted more time to consider the move.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56891326

The European Union has launched legal action against the coronavirus vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca.

The European Commission - the EU's executive branch - said it was suing the company for not respecting its vaccine supply contract, and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely deliveries.

AstraZeneca said the move was "without merit".

It said it would "strongly defend itself in court".

The legal action marks an escalation in a long-running dispute between the two sides over the supply of coronavirus vaccines. The EU is struggling with the slow pace of its vaccine rollout. Some in the bloc have claimed that AstraZeneca has shown preferential treatment to the UK - but the company has denied this. A European Commission spokesman said the action was launched on Friday, with the backing of all 27 member states.

It stems from a deal the EU agreed with AstraZeneca in August for 300 million doses, with an option for 100 million more.

Earlier this year, AstraZeneca said its supplies would be reduced because of production problems. Of 80 million doses planned for delivery in the first quarter of 2021, only about 30 million were sent.

According to the Commission, the company is set to provide 70 million doses in the second quarter of 2021 instead of the 180 million that were initially arranged.

"The terms of the contract, or some terms of the contract, have not been respected," the spokesman said. "We want to make sure that there's a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses... which have been promised on the basis of the contract."

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides tweeted that the commission's priority was to "ensure Covid-19 vaccine deliveries take place to protect the health of the European Union".

"Every vaccine dose counts. Every vaccine dose saves lives," she wrote.

One EU official told Reuters news agency that the move was taken to "send a message" to AstraZeneca's chief executive Pascal Soriot. In a statement responding to the announcement, AstraZeneca said it had "fully complied" with its agreement with the EU.

"Our company is about to deliver almost 50m doses to European countries by the end of April, in line with our forecast," the British-Swedish company said.

"We are making progress addressing the technical challenges and our output is improving, but the production cycle of a vaccine is very long which means these improvements take time to result in increased finished vaccine doses," the statement read.

AstraZeneca has previously said that the contract obliged the company to make its "best effort" to meet EU demand, without compelling it to stick to a specific timetable.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman told reporters he was unaware of the specifics around the legal action. He said AstraZeneca had been a "hugely strong partner for the UK and in fact, globally, for the work they're doing".

Under the contract, any legal action would need to be resolved by Belgian courts.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/canada-pm-says-astrazeneca-vaccine-is-safe-despite-blood-clot-death-2021-04-28/

AstraZeneca PLC's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and Canadians should have confidence in it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday, reacting to news that a woman had died of a rare blood clot after being inoculated.

Francine Boyer, 54, is the first Canadian fatality linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. She received a shot on April 9 and died on April 23 in hospital where she was being treated for fatigue and headaches, her husband said in a statement.

"I have tremendous confidence in all vaccines, including AstraZeneca," said Trudeau, who got his first AstraZeneca shot last Friday.

"The risks of blood clots from getting COVID are much greater than the very, very rare but real risk of side-effects from AstraZeneca. It is a very simple calculation we should make," Trudeau told a Halifax radio station.

More than a dozen European countries temporarily suspended use of the vaccine after reports of blood clots combined with low platelets in a very small number of people. Many countries have resumed using the shot.

Faced with a rampant third wave of the virus, several Canadian provinces recently began offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people aged 40 and over.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/british-regulator-cites-41-more-blood-clot-reports-following-astrazeneca-shots-2021-04-29/

Britain's medicine regulator on Thursday said there had been a further 41 reports of rare blood clots after doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, but that the benefits of the shot continued to outweigh the risks for the majority of people.

In a weekly update on side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there were a total of 209 clots with low platelet counts following vaccination with AstraZeneca's shot, compared to a total of 168 reported last week.

There has been scrutiny of the AstraZeneca vaccine on the issue of the very rare clots, with a higher incidence in younger people. Some countries, including Britain, have recommended that only people over a certain age get the shot.

There were 41 deaths following the clots in Britain, the MHRA said, an increase of 9 from last week's figures, although experts say historic cases might still be feeding through to the totals, and the clots are set to remain a rare event.

About 22 million first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered in Britain. Four cases of rare clotting were reported following a second dose, but the MHRA did not say how many second doses had been given.

Britain has advised that under-30s receive an alternative to the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, after the MHRA medicine regulator found there was evidence of a link to rare clots with low platelet levels, and officials are considering whether to change advice for people under 40 too.

Officials have emphasised the side effect is "vanishingly" rare and advised that most people still get the shots, and AstraZeneca has pointed to regulator recommendations that the vaccine is safe and effective.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/canadas-alberta-confirms-first-death-linked-astrazeneca-vaccine-2021-05-05/

The Canadian province of Alberta reported its first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, its chief medical officer said.

Canada has reported at least five cases of blood clots following immunization with the vaccine, but public health officials maintain the benefits of the AstraZeneca shot outweigh the potential risks.

The Alberta case, of a woman in her 50s, marks the second case of blood clots, and the only death after more than 253,000 doses of AstraZeneca were administered in the province, Alberta's chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said in a statementon Tuesday.

"While any death is tragic, it is important to remember that the risks of dying or suffering other severe outcomes from COVID-19 remain far greater than the risk following AstraZeneca vaccine," Hinshaw said.

AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.

Canada has had 1,243,242 confirmed coronavirus cases and 24,342 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.

Last month, the province of Quebec reported Canada's first death of a patient after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

AstraZeneca, working with the vaccine's inventor Oxford University, was one of the leaders in the global race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Its cheap and easily transportable shot was hailed as a milestone in the fight against the crisis, but has since faced a series of setbacks.

The rare complication, which some regulators including Health Canada are calling Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia, involves blood clots accompanied by a low count of platelets, cells in the blood that help it to clot.

Dozens of countries paused the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March after reports of rare, but serious, blood clots. Several of them have now resumed use either fully or with restricions after health regulators said the benefits of the shot outweigh any risks.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/third-wave-pandemic-appears-be-broken-german-health-minister-2021-05-07/

Britain restricted the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday while Germany said it would give the shot to anyone who wants it, in a risk-management role reversal that reflects the divergent progress of their vaccination campaigns.

The shifts in guidance on the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's vector-based shot demonstrate just how hard it is for policy makers to weigh its benefits against risks in the form of very rare - yet occasionally fatal - cases of blood clotting.

How choosy governments can afford to be depends to a large extent on how far they have progressed towards vaccinating enough people to drive down the spread of coronavirus infections and cut the number of resulting deaths.

In Britain, which has relied heavily on the AstraZeneca jab designed at Oxford University, 51% of people have received at least one vaccine dose and daily fatalities have fallen to the low double digits. read more

Against that backdrop, Britain's panel of vaccine advisers said people under 40 should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca due to the small risk of blood clots, raising the age cut-off from 30 previously.

Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of Britain's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), stressed that the decision to propose alternative vaccines for the under-40s was "based on the UK epidemiology".

He noted that the risk-benefit balance of the AstraZeneca vaccine was different in Germany due to higher infection rates there. In Germany, the seven-day incidence is 126 cases per 100,000 people and, although it is on a downward trend, it is nearly six times the rate in Britain, official data show. Britain's new-found caution follows bold earlier decisions to issue emergency approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, aggressive ordering and a strategic choice to administer first doses to as many people as possible.

Germany, by contrast, has relied on a European Union procurement process that has been troubled by a dispute with AstraZeneca after the company slashed its deliveries due to production problems.

On the regulatory side, Berlin first banned AstraZeneca for the elderly due to a lack of trial data, before saying people under that age shouldn't receive it after monitoring identified cases of blood clotting, in particular in younger women.

Now, Health Minister Jens Spahn is making the shot freely available to those who want it, on a doctor's advice, and allowing people to get a second shot as soon as four weeks after the first. The move comes with an eye to the summer holidays and coincides with the rapid passage of legislation this week that would free those fully vaccinated from social distancing measures imposed by Berlin to fight the pandemic.

AstraZeneca vaccines stockpiled at vaccination centres will now be used mainly to give second shots. Future deliveries will be sent to family doctors, offering a hassle-free route for those wanting protection in time for their summer vacation.

"We are convinced this offer is attractive for those who would otherwise not get vaccinated so quickly," Spahn told a news conference.

Even as Germany loosened its handling of AstraZeneca, the EU's drug regulator said it was reviewing reports of a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome in people who had received the shot. And, adding to confusion, the Spiegel news weekly reported that Germany's vaccine committee planned to restrict the one-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson to over-60s following similar reports of blood clotting.

The decision by the federal government follows moves by several German states to make AstraZeneca more widely available and comes as the pace of giving shots of mainstay vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna picks up.

The share of the German population that has received a first vaccine shot has reached 31.5%, putting the country in line with the rest of Europe, where an official dashboard shows that 31.3% of people have received a first dose.

Some German experts criticised the decision to allow people to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at shorter intervals, saying studies had shown its efficacy to be only around 55% with a four-week gap and 80% with a 12-week delay to the second shot.

"We have to make it clear that if people shorten the gap between AstraZeneca doses to enjoy greater freedom of movement sooner, they are doing so at the cost of their immune protection," said Carsten Watzl, professor of immunology at the Dortmund Technical University.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/english-data-shows-single-dose-az-covid-19-vaccine-gives-80-lower-risk-death-2021-05-10/

Data from the rollout of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine shows one dose of the shot results in 80% less risk of death from the disease, Public Health England said on Monday.

It also said protection against death from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine rises from approximately 80% after one dose to 97% after two doses in its new analysis.

PHE said the study was the first on protection against mortality from the AstraZeneca vaccine based on data from a real world setting.

The study looked at new symptomatic cases of COVID-19 between December and April and people who died within 28 days of their positive test by vaccination status.

People who had a single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine were 55% protected against death, with a figure of 44% protection for a single dose of Pfizer, compared to unvaccinated people.

"Combined with the protection vaccines offer against becoming a case in the first place, this is equivalent to approximately 80% protection against mortality in individuals vaccinated with a single dose of either vaccine," PHE said in a statement.

Protection against mortality from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine improved to 69% for cases who had their second dose at least a week before they tested positive. Combined with the estimated protection from getting COVID-19 to start with, this is equivalent to an estimated 97% protection, PHE said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to confirm further easing of lockdown restrictions in England on Monday, helped in part by the speed of the country's vaccine rollout.

In another dataset, PHE said that it was estimated that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalisation by 93% for the over 80s.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Received my letters for Oxford vaccine.

Looking forward to calling them for an explanation as to why I should take it? Hopefully I wont have some ignorant clown on the phone.

 

[MenInG]

India has found 26 suspected cases of bleeding and clotting among recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the health ministry said on Monday, describing the risk as "minuscule" out of the 164 million doses administered.

Some countries have suspended or restricted use of the shot over fears of possible side effects, though health experts have said its benefits outweigh the risks.

This is the first time India has reported any serious reaction to the use of the vaccine, branded locally as Covishield.

India's adverse events committee reviewed 498 instances of serious and severe side effects following the injection of the shot, the ministry said, 26 of which were potentially "thromboembolic" — meaning the formation of a clot in a blood vessel that might break loose and plug another vessel.

The ministry said the rate of these events in India was about 0.61 per million doses, much lower than Britain's four and Germany's 10.

"Bleeding and clotting cases following Covid vaccination in India are minuscule and in-line with the expected number of diagnoses of these conditions," the ministry said in a statement that cited data from the committee.

The vaccine "continues to have a definite positive benefit risk profile with tremendous potential to prevent infections and reduce deaths due to Covid-19", it said.

The ministry did not give details on the nature of the clots.

The committee found no clot-related reactions after the use of domestically developed Covaxin vaccine, of which nearly 19m doses have been given in India.

Pakistan received its first shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines through the Covax facility on May 8.

A statement issued by the National Command and Operation Centre had said that the first consignment consisted of 1,238,400 vaccine doses and would be followed by an additional 1,236,000 doses in a few days. It had added that the doses would serve to support the government's "ongoing historic drive to bring the pandemic to an end".

"Further allocations from June onwards will be confirmed in due course. The goal of the Covax facility is to supply Pakistan with enough doses to vaccinate 20 per cent of the population depending on availability."

Pakistan is offering Astrazeneca vaccine to all adults over 40 years of age. This decision is based on WHO's recommendation of considering local epidemiology (including incidence and mortality from Covid-19 disease), age groups targeted for vaccination, data on vaccine adverse effects and the availability of alternative vaccines.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1624151/i...f-bleeding-clotting-after-astrazeneca-vaccine

 

[MenInG]

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said Monday nearly 0.1% of people, who had received the coronavirus vaccine, reported side effects.

The special assistant noted that almost all of the people complained of having mild and expected side effects out of the millions of people who have been inoculated.

"Out of 3.8 million+ doses, 4,329 reports of adverse effects have been reported so far. Nearly all reports were of mild, expected side effects — 90% involved pain at the site of injection or fever," he said.

However, the special assistant said six serious cases were reported — each was investigated thoroughly and found to be coincidental and non-attributable to the vaccine.

If a person wants to report side effects from a vaccine, they can do it by calling 1166 or visiting website nims.nadra.gov.pk, the National Command and Operations Centre said.

Pakistan has started registering people who are 30 years and above for the coronavirus vaccination last week.

The World Bank has approved the provision of $153 million to support the ongoing national vaccine drive in Pakistan, in a bid to help the country fight the pandemic.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved the restructuring of the Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan (PREP) project, which was originally approved in April 2020.

On May 3, Pakistan opened registration for the coronavirus vaccination for people aged between 40 to 49 years across the country.

The vaccine registration for the 40-49 age group has been going on since April 27, whereas walk-in vaccinations for people aged 50 and above are underway in the country.

A digital portal has been launched by the federal government for the registration through which a code is assigned to the person and then they can go to a designated vaccination centre and get a jab.

The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) has appealed to the public to register for vaccination on a priority basis.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.news18.com/news/world/oxfordastrazeneca-vaccine-80-effective-against-b1-617-2-variant-uk-study-3765926.html

Two doses from either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer vaccine are over 80 per cent effective in preventing infection from the B1.617.2 variant of Covid-19, first discovered in India, a new UK government study has reportedly found. The Oxford-AstraZeneca two-dose vaccine is also being produced by the Serum Institute of India as Covishield and being administered among the adult population in India to protect against the deadly virus. The UK findings are said to be based on data from Public Health England (PHE) and have also revealed that the two doses provide 87 per cent protection from the B.117 variant, first discovered in Kent region of England and also considered highly transmissible. According to The Telegraph' newspaper, the latest study's findings were presented to a meeting of the government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) this week. The latest PHE statistics released earlier this week show that case numbers of the B1.617.2 variant had risen by 2,111 over the past week to hit 3,424 cases across the country. "I think it's clearly growing, which anyone can see from the numbers as they are reported week by week, Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of Covid-19 genomics at the Sanger Institute, told the BBC.

"If I had to put a guess today it would be 20 or 30 per cent rather than 50 per cent (more infectious than the Kent variant). But there is still uncertainty, 50 per cent might be a reasonable worst case scenario," he said, in reference to the rate of transmissibility of the variant of concern (VOC) first detected in India. Meanwhile, PHE officials are also closely monitoring a variant under investigation (VUI) in the Yorkshire region of England, which is showing high transmissibility.

It comes as the National Health Service (NHS) further expanded its vaccination programme and announced that it will open bookings for people aged 32 and 33, adding to the over-34s cohort, from Saturday. NHS England said that the third expansion of eligibility in just one week comes as over four in 10 adults have now had both jabs. Only days after we extended the offer of a vaccine to 34 and 35 year olds, we are now rolling out the invite to 32 and 33 year olds - an incredible step forward in the biggest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history, said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

This is truly a testament to the heroic work of our amazing NHS and care staff, volunteers and local authorities across the country who have helped deliver over 50 million jabs at lightning speed across England, keeping us on track to offer a vaccine to everyone by July, he said. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has, meanwhile, said that it is ramping up testing and genome sequencing of sewage and waste water in the drive to track and trace all variants of Covid-19, including the B1.617.2 variant. A new laboratory in Exeter, south-west England, opened last month dedicated to analysing wastewater, making it one of the biggest wastewater processing labs in the world. Increased genomic sequencing of sewage samples are expected to provide more clues to where variants of concern may be circulating undetected in communities. It can pick up evidence of variants from infected people and continue to monitor sewage after surge testing has ended in an area.

Sequencing wastewater samples provides an additional detection system for variants of concern, enabling us to respond more effectively to outbreaks and better protect citizens, said Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency Dr Jenny Harries. This innovative programme supports the work of Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace to help us understand where the virus may be circulating undetected, she said.

Wastewater samples are taken from around 500 locations in England and sent to the laboratory at Exeter Science Park. Environment Agency scientists analyse the samples to quantify the amount of Covid-19 present. As infections fall and we head out of national restrictions, analysing wastewater to detect variants early on is important to help local authorities and NHS Test and Trace act quickly to stop variants from spreading in communities, said Programme Lead at the Joint Biosecurity Centre Dr Andrew Engeli.

The experts said that without the need to rely on individuals coming forward for swab tests, this kind of monitoring in a catchment area is able to pinpoint outbreaks to smaller areas and neighbourhoods. There are also pilots analysing the wastewater from specific institutions, such as within the food supply chain and prisons.

 

[Robert]

This story has gone quiet.....

 

[OMB]

British Woman In Cyprus Suffers Blood Clot After Receiving AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine, Dies


Cyprus health authorities have opened an investigation to see if the "serious thrombotic episode" was linked to the AstraZeneca jab.

Dublin: A 39-year-old British woman died in a Cypriot hospital after a blood clotting incident after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the official Cyprus News Agency said Monday.
Charalambos Charilaou, the spokesperson for the state health services, told CNA that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would investigate the death.

The woman, treated at Nicosia General Hospital's intensive care unit, received the first dose of the vaccine on May 6 in the resort town of Paphos on the western coast of the Mediterranean island.

The woman, who was not named, suffered symptoms days later.

Cyprus health authorities have opened an investigation to see if the "serious thrombotic episode" was linked to the AstraZeneca jab.

Cypriot authorities are investigating another

Four other cases of "mild" blood clotting incidents -- three of which occurred after an AstraZeneca shot and one after a Pfizer jab -- are also being investigated by Cyprus.

Some countries have restricted or dropped AstraZeneca shots from national vaccine campaigns over very rare blood clots, though the EMA says the benefits outweigh the risks.

AstraZeneca is the backbone of the vaccination rollout in Cyprus, where family doctors also allowed to administer the jab to anybody aged over 20.

But many people booking online to get the vaccine have snubbed AstraZeneca and opted for other shots.

According to Our World in Data figures, Cyprus is ranked third in the European Union for vaccinations per population, administering 57.54 doses per 100 people.

Nearly 49 percent of Cyprus' adult population has received a Covid-19 vaccine shot, and 21 percent are fully vaccinated.

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Total infections since the pandemic in March 2020 started is 71,911 and 354 deaths.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/british-woman-in-cyprus-suffers-blood-clot-after-receiving-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-dies-2448354?pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories

 

[classic]

My aunty in her late 40's has still not taken her 1st despite receiving the invitation letter. Although she is slowly getting round to it and accepts that without the vaccine it will cause her a lot of problems as she is planning to visit the US however she refuses to take Az
Also I read somewhere that US was not accepting anyone with Az vaccine or they have not applied the licence for it .