CARPHA says AstraZeneca vaccine in Caribbean Different from Batch in Europe

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Submitted by Tee White

What does CARPHA mean by saying it’s not the same version?

Are they now saying that AstraZeneca have different versions of their vaccine?

How is the version being used in the Caribbean different from the one being halted in Europe and other parts of the world?

Why were the people of the Caribbean not told that the vaccine to be used in the Caribbean would be a different version from the one being used in Europe?

More questions than answers.

Update from the Caribbean Public Health Agency on COVID-19 Vaccines and Variants

Joseph Charles | 3/13/2021 7:14:00 PM | (0) Comments | (471) View Count | Return

The Caribbean Public Health Agency is aware that some countries in the European Union have suspended their AstraZeneca vaccination campaign, as a result of reports of rare blood coagulation disorders in people who had received the vaccine.   This was done as a precautionary measure while a full investigation is conducted into the reports.  At present, it cannot be determined whether there is a link between the vaccine and the disorders. 

Adverse reactions that happen following immunisation with any vaccine need to be fully investigated to rule out various factors, for example concomitant illnesses, progression of a disease, and batch assessment, before a final decision is made by the health authorities. 

It must be noted that the vaccine being used in the Caribbean is not the same version or batch as the one in Europe. 

Read full text of the article – Update from the Caribbean Public Health Agency on COVID-19 Vaccines and Variants

 

137 thoughts on “CARPHA says AstraZeneca vaccine in Caribbean Different from Batch in Europe”


  2. Apparently German and Norwegian scientists found the link between bloodclots and the astrazeneca jab.

    “Blood clots & one death reported in Denmark after hospital staffers take AstraZeneca vaccine”

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  3. It is a Danish problem, not a Barbadian. Our AZ shipments are fine.

    Or as WARU would say: Only whites et blood clots. LOL.

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  4. Miller….the honeymoon did not last long at all….we wait for the fallout for those with big delusional dreams for something they still criminalize…

    “Canada cannabis imports, Canada hasn’t imported any commercial medical cannabis, new data shows
    A Jacana cannabis farm in Jamaica. (Photo courtesy of Jacana)

    Canada has imported a relatively small amount of cannabis since late 2018, and none for sale commercially, according to data provided to Marijuana Business Daily by the country’s federal health department.

    The data offers additional ammunition to critics who charge Canada has in effect imposed a ban on commercial imports of medical cannabis.

    Roughly 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of dried cannabis were brought into Canada between October 2018 and Aug. 14, 2020, according to the previously unpublished Health Canada data.

    The country also saw 200.35 milliliters (6.8 ounces) of cannabis oil enter the country legally, the federal health department said. A monthly breakdown is not yet available.

    The quantities authorized were for scientific purposes only, a Health Canada spokeswoman confirmed, meaning none of the product was destined for sale to Canadian patients.
    The trickle of noncommercial imports comes as commercial exports continue to soar.

    MJBizDaily exclusively reported that exports of medical cannabis for scientific and medical use have risen dramatically in recent years.

    About 5,372 liters (1,419 gallons) of Canadian-produced cannabis oil products were approved for export to at least 17 countries in 2019. A year earlier, 919 liters were approved for export.

    Dried cannabis exports for medical and scientific use more than doubled to 3,740 kilograms last year.

    That has rankled some countries, which say the Canadian government is insulating domestic medical cannabis producers against foreign competition by not allowing imports for medical use.

    A Jamaican official previously told MJBizDaily the country will make an appeal to the Canadian government “for this unfortunate position to be reviewed.”

    International medical cannabis businesses also object to Canada’s position.

    The CEO of a multinational cannabis company said appropriately licensed companies should not be prevented from participating in Canada’s medical marijuana industry – provided they’re working with an appropriately licensed Canadian company on the import side.

    “If there is product that passes internationally recognized standards, is cheaper for the patient and consumer, then import should certainly be looked at seriously. We need competition to deliver savings to patients,” the CEO said, requesting anonymity.

    But blocking imports of medical cannabis also has repercussions for Canada’s largest producers, who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years building out cultivation facilities overseas.

    The de facto ban on imports prevents those Canadian companies from monetizing those facilities via shipping to Canada – in effect removing the largest base of consumers from their equation.

    That matters because there are very few functional, meaningful, federally regulated medical marijuana markets – and Canada happens to be the largest among them.

    A lawyer specializing in international trade said Canada is probably in the wrong when it comes to international law, but the likelihood of legal action in the near term remains low.

    “It’s a no-brainier from a trade law point of view that what Canada is doing violates our international agreements,” said Mark Warner, a lawyer in Toronto specializing in international competition, trade and investment law.

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  7. Everyone has a different story….the advice to wait and see is solid, still is.

    https://www.nationnews.com/2021/03/22/poll-european-trust-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-plunges/

    “London – 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.”

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  8. AstraZeneca passes US trial
    LONDON/TAIPEI – AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine performed better than expected in a major late-stage trial, potentially paving the way for its emergency authorisation in the United States and bolstering confidence in the shot after numerous setbacks in Europe.
    The drugmaker said yesterday that interim data from trials in Chile, Peru and the United States found the vaccine, developed in conjunction with Oxford University, was 79 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and, crucially, posed no increased risk of blood clots. It intends to request US emergency authorisation in the coming weeks.
    More than a dozen European countries, including Germany and France, had halted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month after reports linked it to blood clots in a very small number of people. They have since resumed inoculation after a regional regulator said it was safe, but an opinion poll yesterday showed Europeans remained sceptical over its safety.
    Hailed as a milestone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic when it first emerged as a vaccine contender last year, the AstraZeneca shot has since been dogged by doubts over its efficacy, dosing regimen and possible side-effects as well as supply setbacks in Europe, where the company has been at the centre of a growing conflict between Brussels and London over so-called “vaccine nationalism”.
    The latest data has yet to be reviewed by independent researchers, but it helps to address some of the concerns, analysts said.
    “It is clear this vaccine has very good efficacy – remember that 60 per cent was, prior to any trials being started, regarded as a good target – and that this efficacy does not show a notable decline at older ages,” Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said.
    Based on more than 32 000 people, the trial was larger and around 20 per cent of volunteers were aged 65 and above, compared to 5.7 per cent in an earlier British trial. Some European countries had been hesitant to use the AstraZeneca shot on older people.
    “Seeing this data now I hope gives others increased confidence that this is a very effective and safe vaccine,” Mene Pangalos, an AstraZeneca executive, said.
    US trials of rival vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which are being deployed in the United States, have showed efficacy rates of around 95 per cent. (Reuters)

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    • AstraZeneca passes US trial
      LONDON/TAIPEI – AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine performed better than expected in a major late-stage trial, potentially paving the way for its emergency authorisation in the United States and bolstering confidence in the shot after numerous setbacks in Europe.
      The drugmaker said yesterday that interim data from trials in Chile, Peru and the United States found the vaccine, developed in conjunction with Oxford University, was 79 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and, crucially, posed no increased risk of blood clots. It intends to request US emergency authorisation in the coming weeks.
      More than a dozen European countries, including Germany and France, had halted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this month after reports linked it to blood clots in a very small number of people. They have since resumed inoculation after a regional regulator said it was safe, but an opinion poll yesterday showed Europeans remained sceptical over its safety.
      Hailed as a milestone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic when it first emerged as a vaccine contender last year, the AstraZeneca shot has since been dogged by doubts over its efficacy, dosing regimen and possible side-effects as well as supply setbacks in Europe, where the company has been at the centre of a growing conflict between Brussels and London over so-called “vaccine nationalism”.
      The latest data has yet to be reviewed by independent researchers, but it helps to address some of the concerns, analysts said.
      “It is clear this vaccine has very good efficacy – remember that 60 per cent was, prior to any trials being started, regarded as a good target – and that this efficacy does not show a notable decline at older ages,” Stephen Evans, professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said.
      Based on more than 32 000 people, the trial was larger and around 20 per cent of volunteers were aged 65 and above, compared to 5.7 per cent in an earlier British trial. Some European countries had been hesitant to use the AstraZeneca shot on older people.
      “Seeing this data now I hope gives others increased confidence that this is a very effective and safe vaccine,” Mene Pangalos, an AstraZeneca executive, said.
      US trials of rival vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which are being deployed in the United States, have showed efficacy rates of around 95 per cent. (Reuters)


  9. David,

    The AZ hysteria is nothing but an echo of the witch mania in the European Middle Ages. No wonder the Europeans, in particular, are freaking out again now.

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  10. Caswell blames Govt for deaths
    Those who died from COVID-19 this year or contracted it did so because of Government’s negligence.
    That is the charge of Independent Senator Caswell Franklyn yesterday as he spoke on the Appropriation Bill 2021 in Parliament.
    In an address that was punctuated with interruptions on points of order by Senator Jerome Walcott and Senator Lisa Cummins, Franklyn said the second wave resulted from improper policing of quarantine facilities that allowed visitors to move around the country when they should have stayed indoors.
    He said if Government knew what would have happened, they would have operated differently.
    Franklyn said the explosion of cases in December was not as a result of – as highly publicised – a bus crawl involving some prison officers, but the unrestricted movement of feting visitors coming into contact with some of the moonlighting officers.
    He claimed that COVID-19 was in Her Majesty’s Prisons Dodds prior to December 26, the date of the bus crawl.
    President of the Senate Reginald Farley warned Franklyn to stick to the official date unless he had proof otherwise, while Walcott, on a point of order, said no country had been able to identify their patient ‘X’.
    Franklyn said he did not envy the Government the job of handling COVID-19, but said the ruling party saw the closing of the
    border issue as more of public relations and how good they were. However, he said they messed up.
    “Every person who died after the first of January when this spread happened, it’s directly attributable to Government’s negligence. When this second wave hit us, it hit us because we had it out there now in the community because the people who went to these parties with the people who . . . left quarantine . . . they spread it. They gave it to us; it is not a homegrown thing.”
    Authorities chided
    He chided authorities for calling the names of prison officers and engaging the police to look for them.
    However, Farley said it would be inaccurate to imply that the men’s names were called as having COVID-19 when the call went out for them to contact their superiors.
    Franklyn maintained the exercise was done to embarrass the men because one of them was at a polyclinic getting a COVID-19 test and was instructed to go home and await the results. His superior called and told him to get there for testing or else, but, said Franklyn, he warned the officer not to go because they meant him harm stemming from a lawsuit three of them have against the institution.
    Franklyn said some prison officers turned up casually dressed and were not allowed to leave and ended up on 12-hour shifts, no change of clothes and without overtime pay.
    He said he did not see in the Estimates money to pay the officers who
    worked a whole month and weren’t allowed to leave duty. Franklyn said money was being wasted at the prison paying people not for doing prison work, but other duties.
    The prisoners were not getting the necessary diet, leading to scurvy that could be treated with lime juice, he added.
    “That is cruel and inhumane treatment not to feed a man so that his teeth start to drop out. I don’t even want to talk about the scabies,” he said.
    Franklyn said he found out from a prisoner what was happening in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak and contacted the minister.
    “Two burly prison officers lick the daylights out of him because I was told about the conditions in the prison and I talked about them,” he said.
    (AC)


    Source: Nation

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