EU approves AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine

The European Union has given the green light to the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, despite Germany's qualms about its effectiveness in seniors. The European Medicines Agency recommended the product for all adults.

The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Friday recommended the COVID-19 vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca for conditional market authorization.

Acting on the EMA's recommendation, the European Commission then gave the vaccine its final approval for use in the 27-member bloc. 

Clinical trials showed that the vaccine "was safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 in people from 18 years of age," EMA said.

The EU body also noted doubts about the product's effectiveness among more mature patients. However, EMA experts predicted that "the vaccine can be used in older adults," would be safe to administer and would provide some protection to people over 55.

"There are not yet enough results in older participants to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group. However, protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines," the experts said in a statement.

The pharma giant welcomed EMA's decision.

"Today's recommendation underscores the value of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine which is not only effective and well-tolerated, but also easy to administer," said AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot.

A day earlier, Germany's vaccine commission said it could not recommend the use of the jabs on people aged 65 years and older because efficacy data for the group were lacking.

Read more:

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-approves-astrazeneca-coronavirus-vaccine/a-56378814

Meanwhile:

The J&J jab has proven to be less effective than other vaccines, though it can be administered with just one shot. The EMA has given a clean bill of health to the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. Follow DW for the latest.

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https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-johnson-johnson-vaccine-66-effective/a-56377316

‘Dangerous signal’: Europe gives itself power to block vaccine shipments to Australia

London: European leaders have given themselves sweeping powers to block crucial coronavirus vaccine shipments to Australia in a ploy condemned as unethical, dangerous and selfish.

The new export restrictions, unveiled overnight Australian-time, grant the European Union final say on whether jabs produced on the continent by pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca can leave the territory.

The emergency scheme is the latest escalation in a brawl between the EU and two drug firms, which recently warned the number of doses available to Europe over the coming months would be slashed because of production problems.

European leaders retaliated on Friday by publishing new export controls designed to give EU citizens priority access to locally produced jabs even though other countries, including Australia, are also relying on supplies from European factories.

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/dangerous-signal-europe-gives-itself-power-to-block-vaccine-shipments-to-australia-20210130-p56y08.html

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Image at top: Superman can't get a jab, because his skin breaks needles, From a 1939 Comic in Gus's collection of useless things... Original:

Meanwhile:

The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced that researchers have elaborated a drug capable of treating Covid-19 with no side-effects, called Carvativir. He also announced that it would be manufacured in large quantities and be made available to the member states of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas).

In doing so, he quipped about the capitalist practices of vaccine companies, emphasizing that the Venezuelan drug would come as a gift from God.

While caution should be exercised, the solution to the epidemic can only be arrived at through debate.

Social media giant YouTube (owned by Google), followed by Facebook and Twitter, are currently withholding any reports relating to Carvativir, despite having been approved by the Venezuelan health and pharmacological authorities. They deem that President Nicolas Maduro is spreading false hope and putting people at serious risk.

The other possibility, of course, is that these companies have an interest in promoting the vaccine strategy rather treating the sick.

Purportedly, Carvativir is a natural product with both anticoagulant and anti-viral properties.

Read more: https://www.voltairenet.org/article212079.html

We have no way to test the efficiency of this wonder drug... And we cannot ask god, because we don't believe in it...

Sputnik V became the first-ever registered vaccine against coronavirus in the world in August 2020, and showed over 90 percent efficiency during trials.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is behind the production and distribution of the Russian-made vaccine Sputnik V, announced that 100 million doses of the medication may be provided for the EU during the next quarter of the year.

Earlier this month, the Russian vaccine was authorised by Hungary, which became the first EU member state to approve Sputnik V.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/202101291081915144-rdif-can-provide-eu-with-100-mln-doses-of-sputnik-v-for-50-mln-people-in-q2-2021/

Meanwhile:

The EU has reversed its decision to temporarily override part of the Brexit deal amid an ongoing row over Covid vaccine supplies in the bloc.

The move would have seen checks at the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland to prevent shipments entering the UK.

But the European Commission later said it will ensure the Northern Ireland Protocol is "unaffected".

Boris Johnson had expressed "grave concerns" about the plan in a phone call with the commission's president. 

President Ursula von der Leyen later tweeted to say she had held "constructive talks" with the prime minister.

She said they had "agreed on the principle that there should not be restrictions on the export of vaccines by companies where they are fulfilling contractual responsibilities".

The EC proposals had also sparked concern from Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster and Irish prime minister Micheál Martin.

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55865539

A week before Christmas, Canada had a gift for the world: a few million doses of the most coveted substance money can buy right now. The country is planning to donate surplus vaccine supplies to poorer nations that are at risk of being left empty-handed in the race to distribute the vaccine, a government representative said in a video call.

Attendees at the meeting included members of the World Health Organization, the vaccine alliance Gavi, the heads of three major pharmaceutical companies and health experts from around the world.

The mood was hopeful. Britain had just launched its vaccination program. The end of the pandemic seemed to be within reach.

Then a journalist asked if Canada, which has secured more vaccine per capita than any other country in the world, planned to deliver those doses immediately. Or would it first do so after a large percentage of Canadians have been immunized? At what point would the country be willing to give up some of its abundance of vaccine?

The representative paused. People have to understand, she said hesitantly, that we are experiencing extraordinary times. She didn’t want to commit herself to a timeline.

It sent a clear message, especially to poorer countries. And it contained two warnings. First: Wealthy nations like Canada are perfectly willing to share their vaccines, but on terms set by the rich. Second: Once again, it might not be the people who most urgently need a remedy who get it first, but rather those who are willing to pay the most for it.

The coronavirus isn’t the first recent pandemic that has exposed inequality between the rich and the poor. During the deadliest phase of the HIV pandemic in the mid-2000s, 2 million people were dying per year, most of them in southern Africa. It took many years for life-saving drugs to make their way to the continent. One of the reasons: The Western pharmaceutical companies that developed the medications are eager for profits, and those drugs frequently cost as much as 10,000 a year per patient 20 years ago.

Read more:

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-stalled-global-vaccine-drive-the-west-s-greed-could-come-back-to-haunt-it-a-dc4b8653-d935-4938-928a-746b031bf0c9

By Jop de Vrieze  Dec. 21, 2020 , 5:10 PM

Science’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Severe allergy-like reactions in at least eight people who received the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech over the past 2 weeks may be due to a compound in the packaging of the messenger RNA (mRNA) that forms the vaccine’s main ingredient, scientists say. A similar mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna, which was authorized for emergency use in the United States on Friday, also contains the compound, polyethylene glycol (PEG).

PEG has never been used before in an approved vaccine, but it is found in many drugs that have occasionally triggered anaphylaxis—a potentially life-threatening reaction that can cause rashes, a plummeting blood pressure, shortness of breath, and a fast heartbeat. Some allergists and immunologists believe a small number of people previously exposed to PEG may have high levels of antibodies against PEG, putting them at risk of an anaphylactic reaction to the vaccine. 

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• Health
• Coronavirus

doi:10.1126/science.abg2359

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