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a little prick — for and against...Since COVID-19 first upended our lives in early 2020, a vaccine has been considered our ticket back to 'normal life'. In January, we took one step closer to that goal, with the national medicines regulator approving the first COVID-19 vaccine (from Pfizer) for use in Australia. While most of us are eager to get immunised, many people still have questions about the safety of the incoming vaccines. With the help of vaccine experts, we've answered five of the most common questions identified by the ABC and Google Trends. Are COVID-19 vaccines safe? In order for a vaccine to get approved for use in Australia, it needs to go through a series of rigorous safety checks. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) — which is responsible for approving vaccines — carefully assesses the results of vaccine trials, makes sure manufacturing standards are up to scratch, and uses its own laboratories to "assess the quality of every batch of a vaccine before it can be supplied". Earlier this week, the TGA said following a thorough and independent review of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine submission it decided the vaccine met the high safety, efficacy and quality standards required. The approval is on a provisional basis, meaning it is valid for two years, and allows the vaccine to be supplied in Australia for people aged 16 and older. All other COVID-19 vaccines undergoing evaluation by the TGA (including the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) will also have to meet the same strict safety requirements. Like any vaccine approved for use in the community, COVID-19 vaccines have been studied extensively across multiple pre-clinical and clinical trials. The process begins with research on cells and animals in the lab (these are the pre-clinical studies), and then progresses to large-scale testing in humans (these are the clinical trials). Over a period of several months, more than 43,000 people were involved in the clinical trials for the Pfizer vaccine, and another 23,000 were included in the Oxford-AstraZeneca trials. Both vaccines were found to be effective at stopping people getting sick (to differing degrees), and both companies reported very few serious side effects (more on those below). What are the ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines? COVID-19 vaccine ingredients vary depending on the vaccine. According to the Department of Health, vaccines may contain some of the following ingredients: a protein component of a virus a piece of genetic code (DNA or mRNA) a very small dose of a weakened virus a substance to boost the immune response (an adjuvant) a small amount of preservative sterile salt water (saline) for injections The newly-approved Pfizer vaccine contains mRNA (which encodes the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein), plus a handful of pharmaceutical ingredients that help to stabilise it. You can find a full list of the ingredients on the vaccine's product information sheet on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. Once other COVID-19 vaccines are approved by the TGA, their specific ingredients will also be listed here. Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2021-01-27/covid-vaccine-safety-questions/13089036
--------------------------- against: Many of us have friends or family who plan on getting the vaccine. Maybe they truly believe they are in danger. Maybe they think it’s better safe than sorry. Maybe they just want to be able to go to the pub again. If you know someone who is planning on getting vaccinated against Covid19, ask them these five questions. Make sure they understand exactly what they’re asking for. 1. DID YOU KNOW THAT WE HAVE NEVER SUCCESSFULLY VACCINATED AGAINST ANY CORONAVIRUS?No successful vaccine against a coronavirus has ever been developed. Scientists have been trying to develop a SARS and MERS vaccine for years, with nothing to show for it. In fact, some of the failed SARS vaccines actually caused hypersensitivity to the SARS virus. Meaning that vaccinated mice could potentially get the disease more severely than unvaccinated mice. 2. DID YOU KNOW IT USUALLY TAKES 5-10 YEARS TO FULLY DEVELOP A VACCINE? Vaccine development is a slow, laborious process. Usually, from development through testing and finally being approved for public use takes many years. The various vaccines for Covid have all been developed and approved in less than a year. While the media are quick to offer a TON of “explainer” guides, which cite “foresight, hard work and luck” as the reasons we got a Covid vaccine so quickly “without cutting corners”, they all leave out key information. Namely, that none of the vaccines have yet been subject to proper trials. Many of them skipped early-stage trials entirely, and the late stage human trials have either not been peer reviewed, have not released their data, will not finish until 2023 or were abandoned after “severe adverse effects”. 3. DID YOU KNOW THAT THE COVID “VACCINE” IS BASED ON NEW TECHNOLOGY, WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN APPROVED FOR USE ON HUMANS BEFORE? While traditional vaccines work by exposing the body to a weakened strain of the microorganism responsible for causing the disease, these new Covid vaccines are mRNA vaccines. mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccines theoretically work by injecting viral mRNA into the body, where it replicates inside your cells and encourages your body to recognise, and make antigens for, the “spike proteins” of the virus. They have been the subject of research since the 1990s, but before 2020 no mRNA vaccine was ever approved for use. 4. DID YOU KNOW THAT THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CAN’T BE SUED IF THE VACCINE HURTS OR KILLS SOMEONE? Back in the Spring of 2020 many governments around the world granted vaccine manufacturers immunity to civil liability, either by invoking existing legislation or writing new laws. The USA’s Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP)grants immunity until at least 2024. The EU’s product licensing law does the same, and there are reports of confidential liability clauses in the contracts the EU signed with vaccine manufacturers. The UK went even further, granting permanent legal indemnity to the government, and any employees thereof, for any harm done when a patient is being treated for Covid19 or “suspected Covid19”. 5. DID YOU KNOW 99.8% OF PEOPLE SURVIVE COVID19? The case-fatality ratio of Sars-Cov-2 infection has been a bone of contention for months, but it is certainly much lower than all the initial models predicted. It was originally massively inflated, with the WHO using a figure of 3.4%. Subsequent studies have found it to be much lower, in some cases even lower than 0.1%. A report published in October in the WHO’s own research bulletin finding a CFR of 0.23% “or possibly considerably lower”. Meaning, even according to the WHO, at least 99.77% of people infected with the virus will survive. * Ask your friends these questions. Give them detailed answers. It is a rushed and untested vaccine, made using unprecedented technology, with no legal recourse should it do you harm, to treat a virus 99.8% of people will survive. So the question that really matters is: Do you really want, or need, to take that risk?
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the vast majority are mild cases...
The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic may have leapt from animals to people outside China’s borders, a World Health Organisation scientist has suggested.
Professor John Watson, who was part of the WHO-led team that travelled to China’s Wuhan city to investigate the origins of COVID-19, said he was uncertain if the virus made the jump from animals to humans in China, despite it being at the epicentre of the initial outbreak.
The now-closed Huanan Seafood wholesale market in Wuhan is where the coronavirus was believed to have first spread.
“There are all sorts of reasons … that suggest that China is a very, very possible source for the outbreak,” Professor Watson told the BBC.
“But by no means necessarily the place where the leap from animals to humans took place.
“And I think we need to ensure that we are looking beyond the borders of China, as well as within China.”
He said the pandemic most likely started with an infection in an “animal reservoir” which was then passed on to humans through an “intermediate host”.
By December 2019, the coronavirus had infected at least 174 people in and around Wuhan, which is where the coronavirus was first detected.
The 174 known cases meant there may have been more than 1000 people who unknowingly had the virus.
“We haven’t done any modelling of that since,” lead investigator for the WHO mission, Peter Ben Embarek, said.
“But we know … in big ballpark figures … out of the infected population, about 15 per cent end up severe cases, and the vast majority are mild cases.”
Read more:
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021/02/15/who-coronavirus-origin-china/
you now are a speck in a giant petri dish...
It's early days and stats are flying about like moths around a light bulb, but fear not, the status of "side-effects" won't appear for a couple of years... You are now part of the experiment:
Israel in January signed a unique agreement with Pfizer essentially exchanging real-world data on how the vaccine performs across different demographics for a steady, early supply of the extremely effective vaccine.
The country's small population and robust digitised health system meant it was well-placed to supply that information.
The early data has reassured policymakers around the world, showing that the vaccine performs as well, if not better, in the real world than in clinical trials.
Even the first of two vaccine doses "is effective and reduces morbidity and lowers hospitalisations by many tens of per cent", said one of the country's four "health maintenance organisations", Maccabi.
On Sunday, Israel's largest healthcare provider, Clalit, revealed a 94 per cent drop in symptomatic COVID-19 infections among vaccinated citizens in a large study of 600,000 Israelis.
Countering hesitancy and resistanceDespite the broad success of the program, Israel has encountered resistance from some groups, including ultra-orthodox Jewish and Arabic citizens. Both communities have been hit hard by the virus, which is running rife in Israel.
In response, Israel plans to limit attendance at cultural or religious gatherings to people who have been fully vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 or can show a recent negative test result. This "green pass" system will also be used in other settings, granting greater freedom of movement to those who are vaccinated.
How and whether Israel can win over its faith communities could hold critical lessons for Australia. Here, coronavirus misinformation has spread in some religious communities at various points in the pandemic. There has also been some Christian opposition to the use of foetal cells in the development of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which most Australians are expected to receive.
But wait…
After