Covid-19 Vaccine - Where, How & Costs

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Polish health minister says AstraZeneca vaccine benefits outweigh risks​

The benefits of using AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine are bigger than the risks, Poland's health minister has said.
His announcement comes after a number of countries suspended use of the shot due to concerns about side effects.
"At the moment we still believe that... the benefits from vaccination in terms of the increase in public safety are much bigger than possible risks from taking the AstraZeneca vaccine," Adam Niedzielski told a press conference.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-...ths-vaccine-latest-test/#update-20210315-1341

NI chief medical officer says AstraZeneca vaccine 'safe and effective'​

Northern Ireland's chief medical officer said he did not hesitate in having an AstraZeneca vaccine, despite the temporary pause of its rollout in the Irish Republic.
Dr Michael McBride received his first jab on Monday as the vaccination programme north of the border opened to those aged 50 and above.
‘I was delighted to get the AstraZeneca vaccine this morning’ - Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride welcomed the opportunity to get his first #COVID19 vaccine earlier today. pic.twitter.com/sRhIRQkiJq
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) March 15, 2021
The latest phase of the rollout was announced after the Irish Republic joined a number of other European countries in temporarily suspending use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after reports from Norway of a small number of vaccinated people who had developed serious blood clots.
Dr McBride, who received his shot at the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald near Belfast, insisted the vaccine was "safe and effective".
"I didn't need to be called a second time this morning when the opportunity was to get my vaccine," he said.

WHO appeals to countries not to pause vaccination drives​

The World Health Organization has appealed to countries not to pause vaccination campaigns after two more European nations and one in Asia joined a handful which have suspended use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.
  • Thailand announced plans on Monday to go ahead with the shot.
  • Indonesia said it would wait after Ireland and the Netherlands announced their suspensions on Sunday.
  • Denmark and Norway have reported isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count after the AstraZeneca vaccine.
  • Iceland and Bulgaria had earlier suspended its use while Austria and Italy have stopped using particular batches.
  • France, Germany and the United Kingdom say they have no concerns.
 
France and Italy have joined Germany in suspending its use of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine over fresh reports of dangerous blood clots in connection with the shot.

Germany's Health Ministry said the decision was taken as a "precaution" and on the advice of Germany's national vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which called for further investigation of the cases.

Emmanuel Macron said that French authorities have decided to suspend shots at least until Tuesday afternoon, when the European Medicines Agency will issue its recommendation over the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Italy's Pharmaceuticals Agency said the decision "was taken in line with similar measures adopted by other European countries."

Earlier Northern Ireland's First Minister, Arlene Foster, urged Britons to take the AstraZeneneca dose to "leave lockdown in the rear view mirror".

AstraZeneca Plc said it had conducted a review covering more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the UK which had shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.
 
Just had the Astra-Zeneca jab this afternoon, and not at all concerned. As Professor David Spiegelhalter, Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk, has been pointing out today, given the number of people vaccinated with AZ, the number of cases of Deep Vein Thrombosis occuring due to pure random chance and the normal rates of DVT shouldn't be the 30 or so reported, it should be 100 per week. He also notes the interesting factoid that both the AZ and Pfizer trials had more serious incidents reported in the control population (injected with saline), than with those who got the actual vaccine.

 
France surpass 90 000 Covid-19 related death, including 26 000 elders in nursing homes.

 
Vaccines are always suspetable to reputational damage, more so than other medicines I would say. I am afraid to say that the bad press around the AZ vaccine may well hinder the vaccination program in the U.K. If I wanted to be cynical I could say that it’s strange that people may start demanding other vaccines all of whom cost more than it. I mean who could possibly benefit from that.
 
I see there’s a variant of COVID-19 emerged in France that can evade the standard PCR test, that’s what people really should be worrying about. Can anyone confirm this as seemingly it’s only reported in the French media?
 
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A member of SAGE answers questions about if there will be a third wave in the U.K.


Can vaccination help people with Long-COVID, possibly but not seemingly everyone.



And for those hesitant or refusing vaccination they should remember that COVID-19’s evolutionary response seems to be to get more lethal and transmissible.

 
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I see there’s a variant of COVID-19 emerged in France that can evade the standard PCR test, that’s what people really should be worrying about. Can anyone confirm this as seemingly it’s only reported in the French media?
La Direction générale de la santé a annoncé lundi qu'un nouveau variant du SARS-CoV2 avait été détecté en Bretagne, quelques jours après les premières informations révélées par le "Télégramme". L'alerte est donnée à l'Agence régionale de santé fin février par le centre hospitalier de Lannion : un cluster est apparu dans l'établissement, mais certains patients présentant des symptômes réalisent plusieurs tests PCR qui reviennent tous négatifs. "Ce qui nous a préoccupés, c’est le fait que des malades ont fait jusqu’à quatre tests PCR négatifs. Nous avons donc suspecté un nouveau variant, dont la spécificité semblait se traduire par une quasi-absence du virus dans la zone naso-pharyngée, ce qui le rendait donc indétectable…", affirmait le 10 mars au quotidien régional breton une source hospitalière. Le journal précise que plusieurs malades avaient déjà contracté le virus par le passé. L'ARS Bretagne a donc fait remonter ces préoccupations à la Direction générale de la Santé. Trois semaines plus tard, 79 cas de Covid-19 sont identifiés, chez des patients et des soignants, dont huit sont porteurs d’un variant non répertorié, confirmé après séquençage.
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The Directorate General for Health [French CDC] announced Monday that a new variant of SARS-CoV2 had been detected in Brittany, a few days after the first information revealed by the "Telegram". The alert was given to the Regional Health Agency at the end of February by the Lannion hospital center: a cluster has appeared in the establishment, but some patients with symptoms carry out several PCR tests which all come back negative. "What worried us is the fact that patients have done up to four negative PCR tests. We therefore suspected a new variant, the specificity of which seemed to result in a virtual absence of the virus in the nasolabial area. -pharyngeal, which therefore made it undetectable… ", a hospital source told the Breton regional daily on March 10. The newspaper specifies that several patients had already contracted the virus in the past. ARS Bretagne has therefore passed on these concerns to the Directorate General of Health. Three weeks later, 79 cases of Covid-19 are identified, in patients and caregivers, eight of whom are carriers of an unlisted variant, confirmed after sequencing.

 
The problem with Covid-19 and administratively burdened nations is that the virus targeting vulnerable elders, a segment of the population that directly sunks the finances of an heavily subdised medical sector that is hit. Let them die :eek: and the available credits (both for the medical sector and general economy) will surge dramatically. Hence the cynical temptation to improve easily the disastrous situation at a relatively moderate political cost (nursing homes often host de-facto an isolated population, something that can be maximized by closing them from the outside world... And afterward, once the virus has been tammed, you can subsidize your economy easily thanks to the contraption of your predictable public debt and become again popular like a Roman Caesar at the yearly games opening).

We had the polemics. The delays. We had the centralized orders easily decommandable. And now Astra is pushed aside, the easiest mass injectable vaccine.

Alas, nobody raises a voice just as if nothing similar had ever happened on the continent that famously invented the Middle Ages.

But it's probably me that might be a bit exhausted.

So now, where is my halberd...
 
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Look at the facts. The people who are dying are in the over 70 age range with certain defined conditions. Those are the ones who are being prioritized, as it should be. In the US last Thanksgiving, why did over a million people decide to fly? Everything was briefly and suddenly OK? Of course not. Around Christmas, the same thing. And guess what, there were more cases after each, and more deaths. As of today, 111 million doses have been given. So once the most vulnerable tier is vaccinated it drops down to age 65. I've seen a recent report that even those age 55 have been getting the shot.

Today, it was announced that more people in the US are traveling since the start of this. Why now? They've been vaccinated. And airlines are pushing for proof of vaccination to get on board. I saw a commercial for a travel service last night - book your trip now. One major airline will stop losing money by the end of the month. That's what's actually happening.
 
Some relevant stats (from FB, but the friend passing them on is a trained nurse):

Your chance of developing Venous Thromboembolic disease over three months is:

  • 3,000 per million if you are over 80
  • 400 per million if you are over 50
  • 200 per million if you are pregnant
  • 160 per million if you are 25
  • 47,000 per million if you catch Covid 19
  • And around 2 per million if you have the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine i.e., there have been FEWER reported episodes of blood clots than expected in the population who have had it.

    The last two points remind me that unusual blood clotting behaviour is a feature of Covid infections that has been well reported, so it's entirely possible some of these incidents are actually Covid related.​
 
Interesting development in vaccine diplomacy. China has told about 20 nations (including Hong Kong, the US, the UK, India, Australia, Iraq, Thailand, Croatia, Israel, Pakistan and the Philippines) it is open to travel from their nationals, but only if they have been vaccinated with a Chinese vaccine. Given China has been very sluggish at publishing trials results for any of its vaccines, most of these nations haven't authorised any of the Chinese vaccines, so the offer is meaningless unless you consider it an attempt them to push them authorise them without seeing full trials data. Startlingly clumsy, even for China.

 
The media in the US is generally biased against China and Russia. Anyway...

 
The COVID sceptic president of Tanzania has now died in hospital at the age of 61 of COVID-19. Or as it’s officially stated ‘heart failure’. This is country that has said previously it would not accept any COVID vaccines.

 
This is an excellent article as to why in a few very narrow circumstances the vaccine may cause an issue. It maybe if you’ve had COVID-19 already. It’s important know so people can be warned to look out for symptoms or certain groups excluded etc.

 
Vaccination campaign, USA:

"It's here, sooner than many ever thought possible," Biden said in remarks at the White House. "Over the next 10 days, we will reach two giant goals: One hundred million shots in people's arms [...] ."


Rosies would be proud...

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