This is an older article about China’s but I was interested in it because I was looking for the cost differences in vaccines. Astrazenica - $4 a shot Moderna - $33 a shot https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55212787 Interestingly you’ll find some pretty good info on the “vaccine diplomacy” @TreeFrogTrader has been bringing up. China is leveraging vaccines because are in a good place at home with the virus well under control soctheyvare able to offer loan schemes in South America and Africa. Nice deal for them.
The whole China Virus scenario has been GREAT FOR THEM!!! And most democrats know that it the best thing that ever happened for democrats. Probably more such viruses are being developed right as we speak. We know the democrats are praying for it. It is all good. If you are of that ilk.
It should be noted that the U.S. Phase 3 trial showed the AstraZeneca jab to be effective for all adults including those above age 65. A number of European countries do not use AstraZeneca to vaccinate adults over 65 because there was limited data for the over 65 group for this vaccine until the U.S. Phase 3 trial. It should also be noted the U.S. Phase 3 trial showed no increased risk for blood clots. This late March submission to the FDA puts the AstraZeneca vaccine on track to be approved in mid April -- which is aligned with the original expected dates for approval. A U.S. trial found AstraZeneca’s vaccine was 79 percent effective with no serious side effects. The company will seek emergency F.D.A. authorization. AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaccine Is Found to Be 79% Effective in U.S. Study The company is preparing to apply for emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. But the shot may not be needed in the United States. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/22/business/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine.html The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford provided strong protection against Covid-19 in a large clinical trial in the United States, completely preventing the worst outcomes from the disease while causing no serious side effects, according to results announced on Monday. The findings, announced in a news release from AstraZeneca, may help shore up global confidence in the vaccine, which was shaken this month when more than a dozen countries, mostly in Europe, temporarily suspended the shot’s use over concerns about possible rare side effects. The trial, involving more than 32,000 participants, was the largest test of its kind for the shot. The vaccine was 79 percent effective overall in preventing symptomatic infections, higher than observed in previous clinical trials. The trial also showed that the vaccine offered strong protection for older people, who had not been as well-represented in earlier studies. But the fresh data may not make much difference in the United States, where the vaccine is not yet authorized. If AstraZeneca’s vaccine is authorized for use in the United States, it is unlikely to become available before May, when federal officials predict that there will be enough vaccine doses for all the nation’s adults from the three manufacturers that already have authorization. Even so, industry analysts said the results were better than expected, a heartening turn for a shot whose low cost and simple storage requirements have made it the workhorse of the drive to vaccinate the world. The results also helped a campaign by European lawmakers to buttress people’s confidence in the shot, one that has featured many political leaders themselves being injected in recent days. “The results from the U.S. trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine give strong evidence that the vaccine is both safe and highly effective,” Matt Hancock, the British health secretary, said on Monday. “Vaccines are our way out of this, so when you get the call, get the jab.” AstraZeneca said on Monday that it would continue to analyze the new data and prepare to apply “in the coming weeks” for emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. The vaccine has already been approved in more than 70 countries, but clearance from American regulators would bolster the vaccine’s reputation globally. The new data has been highly anticipated because of the expectation that the trial, designed to meet F.D.A. standards, would be the best measure of how well the vaccine works. The shot is the backbone of vaccine rollouts in many poor and middle-income countries. “This is the vaccine that will likely vaccinate the world,” Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, wrote on Twitter on Monday, adding: “If you were rooting for global vaccination, this is a good morning.” The interim results announced on Monday were based on 141 Covid-19 cases that had turned up in volunteers. Two-thirds of participants were given the vaccine, with doses spaced four weeks apart, and the rest received a saline placebo. Volunteers were recruited from Chile and Peru in addition to the United States. None of the volunteers who got the vaccine developed severe symptoms or had to be hospitalized, a major selling point for the shot. However, AstraZeneca did not disclose the number of volunteers who got the placebo who developed severe Covid-19 or had to be hospitalized, making it difficult to know how statistically powerful those findings are. The new results could help the vaccine recover from the safety scare it has faced in Europe. Regulators there initiated a safety review after a small number of people who had recently been inoculated developed blood clots and abnormal bleeding. Most countries are now restarting use of the shot, with some restrictions and a new warning label, after the European Union’s drug regulator said on Thursday that a review determined that the vaccine was safe. Nonetheless, the speed at which several nations suspended use of the vaccine reflected a skittishness about its safety and effectiveness that contrasts sharply with the confidence that has been shown in other vaccines. Trust in the vaccine has tumbled in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and, to a lesser degree, Britain, according to polls. Participants who received the vaccine in the trial had no increased risk of blood clots or related illnesses. And a specific search turned up no cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis — blood clots in the brain that can result in dangerous bleeding — that raised some of the most serious concerns in Europe. Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in Britain, said that the results could allay concerns not only in Europe but also globally. He said that he had received messages in recent days from colleagues in Ghana, fretting about how to explain the safety scare to people who had been celebrating the vaccine’s arrival only weeks earlier. “Because of the slight battering the AstraZeneca vaccine has taken over the last few weeks — and particularly in the last week or two in Europe — new data showing it is safe and effective is, if you’ll excuse the phrase, a good shot in the arm,” he said. “The publication of these results is actually quite well-timed, given possible hesitancy around the vaccine.” The U.S. trial also turned up no cases of serious neurological problems. That arose as a concern last summer after two volunteers in AstraZeneca’s trial in Britain fell ill with neurological problems. Although those cases forced a seven-week halt to the U.S. clinical study, researchers ultimately concluded that the illnesses could not be linked to the vaccine. Still, the delay was a key factor in why AstraZeneca fell so far behind three other vaccine manufacturers that have won emergency authorization in the United States. The vaccine worked well across ethnicity and age groups, AstraZeneca said. The vaccine was 80 percent efficacious in approximately 6,000 trial enrollees over age 65 — findings likely to quell concerns about insufficient clinical trial data on how well the vaccine works in older people. Some countries briefly limited inoculations with the shot to younger people before reversing course to allow it to be used in all age groups, after data from the vaccine’s rollout in Britain showed the vaccine provided strong protection in older people. Even if the vaccine is not used in the United States, receiving emergency authorization from the F.D.A. — whose rigorous review process is considered the global gold standard — would be an important milestone for AstraZeneca. Some countries that have not yet authorized the vaccine may look to follow the F.D.A.’s lead. A green light from the agency could also bolster trust in countries where the shot is already authorized — a considerable challenge for the vaccine, which has been perceived by some as less desirable than other shots because of its lower overall efficacy rate in previous clinical trials. While it is difficult to compare vaccines tested in differently designed clinical trials in different populations at different points in the pandemic, the new results put AstraZeneca’s vaccine in the company of other leading vaccines. The vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which rely on messenger RNA technology and must be stored at very cold temperatures, were both found in large clinical trials to be about 95 percent efficacious overall in preventing symptomatic infections. Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine had a 72 percent overall efficacy rate in trial participants in the United States. AstraZeneca’s vaccine can be stored for up to six months when refrigerated. It uses an older approach similar to that of the shot from Johnson & Johnson. A delivery vehicle — a weakened version of a chimpanzee adenovirus — is used to transport coronavirus genes into human cells. That is meant to train the immune system to fight off attacks from the real coronavirus.
AstraZ will continue to see lots of scary stories that they will have to deal with. Some of them probably will have merit because problems go with the laws of large numbers. But it is AstraZ- not pfizer, or moderna or j and j- which is a direct threat to the Sputnik and Sinopharm vaccines. The Ruskies and the Chinese will continue to play hardball with the disinformation games. AstraZ has the low-cost, low storage requirements - and actually has some research to studies to support their vaccine - that will make it a credible addition to the Covax/WHO distributed vaccines. You be on China's turf when you go in that direction. China and Russia already have a good start on wordwide distribution but no one holds them to any research standards so they have no problems. Laissez les bon temps rouler.
Speaking of vaccine misinformation. The anti-vaxers have been pushing that the AstraZeneca vaccine contains pork products in an effort to undermine administration in Muslim countries. Of course, this campaign has been supported by misinformation coming out of Russian channels. AstraZeneca counters Indonesian Muslim concerns over Covid-19 vaccine Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council, the Indonesia Ulema Council, said on its website Friday that the vaccine is "haram" because the manufacturing process uses "trypsin from the pork pancreas." https://www.hindustantimes.com/worl...ns-over-covid-19-vaccine-101616302032081.html AstraZeneca said on Sunday its Covid-19 vaccine contains no pork-derived ingredients, countering an assertion in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, that the drug violates Islamic law. Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical council, the Indonesia Ulema Council, said on its website Friday that the vaccine is "haram" because the manufacturing process uses "trypsin from the pork pancreas." Still, the council approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use given the pandemic emergency. But AstraZeneca Indonesia spokesman Rizman Abudaeri said in a statement: "At all stages of the production process, this virus vector vaccine does not use nor come in contact with pork-derived products or other animal products." The council and the country's food and drug agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Indonesian authorities on Friday approved the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine after reviewing reports that it had caused blood clots among some recipients in Europe. Indonesia is grappling with one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia – with 1,455,788 cases and 39,447 deaths as of Saturday.
Quite so. They should just stick with the facts. It does not contain pork. It has weakened adenoviruses from chimpanzees. That should help - or not
European trust in AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine plunges, poll shows https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-confid-idUSKBN2BE009 Confidence in the safety of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has taken a big hit in Spain, Germany, France and Italy as reports of rare blood clots have been linked to it and many countries briefly stopped using it, poll data showed on Monday. The polling firm YouGov said it had already found in late February that Europeans were more hesitant about the AstraZeneca vaccine than about those from Pfizer Inc/BioNTech and Moderna Inc, and that the clot concerns had further damaged public perceptions of the AstraZeneca shot’s safety. At least 13 European countries in the past two weeks stopped administering the AstraZeneca shot, co-developed with scientists at Oxford University, after reports of a small number of blood disorders. Many resumed its use on Friday after the European Medicines Agency regulator said in a preliminary safety review on Thursday that the vaccine was safe and effective and not linked with a rise in the overall risk of blood clots. EMA did not rule out a possible link, however, with rare cases of blood clots in the brain known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). YouGov’s poll - which covered about 8,000 people in seven European countries between March 12 and 18 - found that in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, people were now more likely to see the AstraZeneca vaccine as unsafe than as safe. Some 55% of Germans say it is unsafe, while less than a third think it is safe, the poll showed. In France, where AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine was already unpopular, 61% of people polled say they now see it as unsafe. In Italy and Spain, most people previously felt the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe - at 54% and 59% respectively - but those rates have fallen to 36% and 38% respectively, in the latest poll. The survey showed that only in Britain, where the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been used in a national rollout since January, have the blood clot concerns had little to no impact on public confidence. The majority of people polled in the UK - 77% - still say the shot is safe. Their trust in it is on a par with Pfizer’s 79% perceived safety rating. YouGov also said there appeared to be no spillover concerns across the seven European countries polled for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, both of which were seen as being as safe as in a poll three weeks ago.
Are our vaccine trials shittier than the euros? What's with the safety discrepancy? Or are AZ findings in the field and not caught during trials?
From summaries in articles.... The trials for AstraZeneca excluded people over age 65 generally. So only a small test group of over 65 were part of the European/U.K. "Phase 3" trials. Due to this come countries in Europe excluded over age 65 from the AstraZeneca shots. The U.S. Phase 3 trial included ample numbers of over 65 people -- thereby proving the vaccine for this cohort. The issue with blood clots and AstraZeneca came up during administration of the shot in various countries in Europe -- not in the EU trials. An investigation of the blood clot issue by the EU. showed the actual incidence level was low and well within the safety criteria. Due to the EU blood clot issue; the U.S. asked for additional data to be provided on all U.S. Phase 3 trial participants related to blood clots. This data took a few additional days to gather and submit to the FDA. The U.S. Phase 3 trial data demonstrated no issues with blood clots and the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Every negative event must be tracked and monitored. Nevertheless, there will be MANY such events. The world is currently vaccinating 11 million people per day with the rate increasing. So with numbers like that, even if the people were just being vaccinated with water, there would be MANY extremely negative events happening to some people within their first few days of being vaccinated. Of course there is the argument that China and Russia seemingly can vaccinate large populations and never have any reported negative events and the skies are always sunny and no clouds after their vaccinations. So maybe that is the vaccination to take- OR NOT.