est. 2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

,

CARPHA says AstraZeneca vaccine in Caribbean Different from Batch in Europe

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…

,
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 responses to “CARPHA says AstraZeneca vaccine in Caribbean Different from Batch in Europe”

  1. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE You’re not toooooo bright, are you.

    I KNOW THAT I AM NOT TOO BRIGHT SATAN, THE SLANDERER, BUT LIKE JOHN I WON THE PRESTIGIOUS BARBADOS SCHOLARSHIP, ONCE ADVISED GOVERNMENT ON PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERS AND OUR NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, AND HAD THE PRIVILEGE TO TEACH MNY MEDICAL STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE GLOBE

    NOT BAD FOR ONE WHO IS NOT TOO BRIGHT EH?

    RE Where have we said he was a catholic.
    READ WHAT YOU SAID AGAIN THAT IMPLIED THAT PATRICK WAS A CATHOLIC.
    IN THE FAITHFUL BAPTIST WITNESS PATRICK IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN BAPTIST….THAT MAKES MORE SENSE. HE DID NOT GO KILLING ANYONE AS YOU ERRONEOUSLY SPEWED

    YOU ARE A NASTY STINKING LIAR JUST LIKE YOUR DADDY
    AND YOU BASICALLY KNOW NOITHING ABOUT THE THINGS YOU ESPOUSE THAT YOU KNOW. YOU ARE ESSENTIALLY A COUNTERFEIT JUST LIKE SATAN YOUR DADDY- THE FATHER OF LIES.

  2. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @Disgusting Lies & Propaganda TVMarch 17, 2021 2:07 AM

    Dear DLP Antigene,

    Thank you for your comprehensive clarification! The EU member states are only suspending vaccination with AZ in order to punish AZ for its supply problems. That is obvious. Pfizer-BionTech and Moderna also have anomalies without anyone getting upset about it.

    Our government would do well to stay the course. In this context, I would like to thank our fabulous Prime Minister and Supreme Leader, General Bosstic and all the hard-working frontline workers in the health sector. You really are a great team. The world is talking about our great vaccination success. What a wonderful advertisement for our island.

  3. John Avatar
    John

    Who takes orders from the Pope?

  4. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ GP March 17, 2021 9:19 AM
    “IN THE FAITHFUL BAPTIST WITNESS PATRICK IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN BAPTIST….THAT MAKES MORE SENSE. HE DID NOT GO KILLING ANYONE AS YOU ERRONEOUSLY SPEWED”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    If Saint Patrick was not “Catholic” what was he then in the 5th Century?

    Was he then an Anglican who killed off the imaginary snakes aka devils in Ireland?

    Since you are so ‘hippy’ steeped in “Church History” where does it say that he Saint Patrick was a “Latin speaking in tongues Puritanical spiritual “Baptist” bible-thumping Christian fundamentalist shouting from the KVJ like some time traveller?

    Next minute you would be confirming that Saint Francis of Assisi was also a Southern cotton-picking redneck Baptist priest who was the founder of the KKK and you, Doc. GP, is his reincarnation of the Christ called Assisi in the ‘gay’ body of Steven Lee Anderson.

    Why don’t you lot of Christian fundamentalist just dump the science about vaccinations and take up your KJVs and pray all day on Sundays for the disappearance of the Covid-19 and its family from the face of the planet so we simple Christianized humans can celebrate Passover for the next 2,000 solar years?

  5. Lawson Avatar
    Lawson

    When I go fishing for muskie and one of those big fish opens it’s big mouth and attacks the lure we all yell…. fish on… Lol Fish on
    Yes Cruseo the rrolex was a cheap knock off just like the aastra-zzeneca from china might not be a good buy either as I was alluding to ,careful what your buying
    Like that time I went to a seafood place on the island ,and saw 8 oz lubester for 3 bucks ordered it thinking it was a misprint on menu. When it came it was 1/2 pound of some oil by-product in the shape of a cuban rock lobster. You get what you pay for.

  6. GP Avatar
    GP

    re Why don’t you lot of Christian fundamentalist just dump the science about vaccinations and take up your KJVs and pray all day on Sundays for the disappearance of the Covid-19 and its family from the face of the planet so we simple Christianized humans can celebrate Passover for the next 2,000 solar years?

    WHY SHOULD I DO THAT THOU UNBELIEVING SON OF SATAN?
    WHY SHOULD I FLY IN THE FACE OF GOD?
    JESUS PROMISED THAT THERE WILL BE PLAGUES AS WE APPROACH THE ESCHATON IN HIS BIRTHPANG SIGNS IN THE OLIVET DISCOURSE

    JESUS SAID THAT SUCH PLAGUES WILL OCCUR IN INCREASING INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY

    AS WE WOULD SAY IN BARBADOS IT SEEMS LIKE THAT HE AINT LIE
    UM HAPPNING JUST LIKE SAID

    SO HE HAS SAID…….SO LET IT BE DONE, JUST AS IT IS BEING DONE

    I MY QUESTION TO YOU IS WHY ARE YOU NOT MOCKING AT THE FULLFILLMENT OF JESUS’ PREDICTION/

  7. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE If Saint Patrick was not “Catholic” what was he then in the 5th Century?
    IN YOUR OBVIOUS IGNORANCE, YOU ARE SEEKING TO ASSERT THAT In the 5th Century THAT ONE HAD TO HAVE CATHOLIC.

    IN YOUR OBVIOUS IGNORANCE, YOU SEEM NOT TO KNOW THAT THE CHURCH EXISTED FOR THREE CENTURIES, BEFORE YOUR DADDY SATAN PROSTITUTED THE CHURCH BECAUSE HE COULD NOT DEFEAT IT AS JESUS PREDICTED BY ANY WAY, INCLUDING INTENSE PERSECUTION

    IN YOUR OBVIOUS IGNORANCE, YOU SEEM NOT TO KNOW THAT THE CHURCH CONTINUED TO EXIST AS THE LOOLARDS, THE PETROBUSSIANS THE WLDENSES AND OTHER GROUPS BEFORE BEING CALLED ANABAPTISTS , BECAUSE THEIR MEMBERS WERE REBAPTIZED BY IMMERSION AS TAUGHT IN THE NT.

    ALL OF THIS IS WELL DOCUMENTED “IN THE FAITHFUL BAPTIST WITNESS AND THE TRAIL OF BLOOD, AND FOX’S BOOK OF MARTYRS

    WHEN YOU DONT REALLY KNOW YOU ASK QUESTIONS POLITELY, AND YOU MIGHT GET ANSWERS FROM THOSE WHO REALLY KNOW

  8. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    And in your ignorance none of the actors in your tale of woe ever existed. Not the devil, not jesus, none. And you cannot prove any of these claims.

    Who is ignorant now!

  9. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE Who is ignorant now!
    YOU
    YOU ARE STILL SATAN

    WHY DO YOU DENY YOUR EXISTENCE AS A SON OF BELIAL, AND THE EXISTENCE OF YOUR DADDY, WHOM JESUS CORRECTLY REFFERRED TO IN JOHN 8:44 AS A LIAR AND MURDERER, FROM THE BEGINNING?

  10. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE Here’s what health experts say
    IS NOT DR FALSE-Y A HEATH EXPERT TOO? LOL
    HE EXPERTLY SCREWED UP HIV/AIDS IN THE USA JUST LIKE HE DID WITH COVID.
    HEALTH EXPERTS DONT FLIP FLOP AS HE HAS AND AS HE HAS DONE.

  11. GP Avatar
    GP

    THIS IS A LETTER I WROTE TO A CHRISTIAN LAWYER THIS WEEK IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION HE ASKED ABOUT COVID

    You asked me on Sunday night what I thought about COVID.

    When the virus first appeared on the scene, as a philologus, I immediately thought of
    1- the “birth pang signs” presented by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse in Mathew 24:4-8, which are predicted to appear with increasing frequency and intensity, and

    2- the passage about plagues in Revelation 6, which occurs of course at the onset of the Tribulation.

    The fact that another plague and pandemic is present serves to remind us that the word of God is indeed true as we believe it to be, as believers therein. We realize that this one is the most significant of the three in the last ten years, and we perceive that both the frequency and intensity has indeed increased just as the Lord predicted. This therefore gives us more reason to believe that the plagues in Revelation 6, will occur at the onset of the Tribulation, some time soon after the Rapture of the church.

    When it SOON became obvious that this pandemic was affecting commerce universally, I thought of the account in Revelation 18, about how God will bring commerce to an abrupt end one day in the eschaton.

    Obviously, we are not yet FULLY in the eschaton, and there is some commerce being realized. However, the present reality of some abrupt disruption of commerce ought to be food for thought, because it does show that God can indeed affect commerce abruptly universally.

    Now we know from our perusal of the historical books of the Bible, that God often acts in judgement, as He has done in the past, even though not necessarily in the exact manner. And so whereas God will probably not use a virus to effect his purpose as detailed in Revelation 18, the fact that he has done it now, ought to be a warning to all men, that he can indeed act as predicted in Revelation 18.

    We will no doubt look on then, and recount the universal fear and general mayhem that the virus is causing today, and realize that at that time, this is truly it!

    Our knowledge and belief in just these three prophetic scriptures should engender in all believers a spirit of joy and expectation, rather than the intense fear that has captured the world, fueled by both pathetic, puny politicians and pressmen. Of course we do have a feeling of sadness for those who just refuse to repent and believe the gospel of Christ.

    That is my theological approach to COVID. Now the medical and scientific.

    Soon after we heard of the presence of the virus, we learned that in parts of Asia and Europe that doctors there sought to confront this new malady with the antimalarial, hydroxychloroquinone, and were achieving some success once the patients presented promptly.

    The reason for this was due to the fact that it has been documented in the renowned Harrison’s Textbook of Internal Medicine that this heterocyclic compound has a mechanism of action that disrupts the replication of the virus. Apparently this large molecule intercalates between the nucleotides in the RNA of the virus, and disrupts the process of transcription, and thus translation of the RNA of the virus is thereby inhibited.

    It would seem also that the lone pairs of electrons in the oxygen and nitrogen molecules of this compound would also act as scavengers of free radicals, and thereby act also as an anti oxidant and thereby affect the pathophysiology in the course of this illness.

    Whereas, wise physicians all over the world, including many in the USA embraced hydroxychloroquinone as a readily available weapon of choice, and embarked on its use to foil the new virus, the highly paid and definite diabolical and demonic Dr False-y, disrupted this ploy by ridiculously requiring a clinical trial of a drug with a well known desirable high therapeutic index, and safety record for over 70 years, so as to appease the press and certain people of a political persuasion similar to his.

    Now we are exhibiting vaccines, whose efficacy and therapeutic index is largely unknown in what is essentially, a clinical trial.

    I recall that as a medical student delving through Pharmacology circa 1975, that it was then proclaimed that the benzodiazepines (Valium and its relatives) should superceed the barbiturates in its several indications, because the benzodiazepines are not drugs of addiction. Over time, this axiom has proven to be quite erroneous.

    I recall too that in 1978, when I was yet a medical student, that Smith Kline French declared that the H2 antagonist “tidiness” (like Cimetidine -Tagament) would put gastric surgeons out of business. Not only has this not happened, but a flurry of agents designed to counteract the effect of excess hydrogen ions in the stomach, have since appeared, with imperfect records of success.

    In 1992, one of my contemporaries at U W I medical school lamented openly that Proscar would put him out of business. iT DEFINITELY HAS NOT

    So quo vadis with the current vaccines for COVID?

    Question is are vaccines really a cure?

    John 3:15 et secq, suggests that are Lord thought not.

    With that I rest my case, your honour.

  12. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    Only a female rabbit would quote the bible to prove de bible.

    There have long been all kinds of fairy tales about cataclysmic events on earth. Indeed, we are currently facing a sixth extension series of events. Meaning we’ve had five already on earth.

    And legions of floods and fires, other calamities, are not new. Certainly, they have gained an increased prominence within popular imagination since your White forebears came out of the hell, hillsides and cave of Europe.

    You can’t never frighten this writer with your threats of viral terror. Your fictitious god is no more than a toothless tiger.

  13. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Pacha…things are so messy right now, there is too much to comment on…it’s that bad..,,it.gives me the opportunity to do other things.

  14. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ GP March 17, 2021 12:43 PM

    IN YOUR OBVIOUS IGNORANCE, YOU SEEM NOT TO KNOW THAT THE CHURCH CONTINUED TO EXIST AS THE LOOLARDS, THE PETROBUSSIANS THE WLDENSES AND OTHER GROUPS BEFORE BEING CALLED ANABAPTISTS , BECAUSE THEIR MEMBERS WERE REBAPTIZED BY IMMERSION AS TAUGHT IN THE NT.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    In that Baptismal rites case, both Jews (like Jesus) and Christians are all “Baptists”.

    You can be circuitously evasive and divinely comical as you like in your trip to the pit of ignorance in Dante’s inferno.

    But you still haven’t answered the burning question as to how a 5th century Romano-British Baptist ‘breast-sucking’ homosexual preacher man became the Pope-approved Roman Catholic venerated icon and the patron saint of Ireland, one of the most fundamentalist Roman Catholic in the world.

    Isn’t that god-like veneration of a former pagan akin to putting Satan to hold the two ‘blackened’ keys to the gates to heaven instead of Saint Peter holding the two of silver and gold; with one for Bar-Jesus the Covid-killing sorcerer and the other for the thief on the cross with the name Bar-Abbas delivering the vaccine from the gods to humanity while holding the rod of Hermes?

  15. GP Avatar
    GP

    RE Only a female rabbit would quote the bible to prove de bible.
    RUBBISH
    MATHEMATICIANS CITE MATHEMATICS TO PROVE MATHEMATICS
    SCIENTISTS CITE SCIENCE TO PROVE SCIENCE

    There have long been all kinds of fairy tales about cataclysmic events on earth
    AND THERE HAVE LONG BEEN MORONS OF YOUR ILK AND SONS OF SATAN JUST YOU ARE

    RE And legions of floods and fires, other calamities, are not new.
    AND THERE WILL BE MORE IN FRQUENCY AND INTENSITY AS WE ARE WITNESSING TODAY

    RE You can’t never frighten this writer with your threats of viral terror. Your fictitious god is no more than a toothless tiger.

    I DONT WANT TO FRIGHTEN YOU SIR I WILL LIVE TO SEE YOU FRY UNLESS YOU TURN TO GOD
    YOUR FATHER IS THE TOOTHLESS TIGER, AND AS HE SEE HIS END APPROACHING SOON, HE HAS SENT OUT YOU HIS SON AND THOSE OF YOUR ILK TO TRY TO DISTRACT AND DECIEVE.

    YOU ARE A JOKE AND FODDER FOR PRACTICING APOLOGETICS
    FOLK WATCHING HOW EASILY I HANDLE YOU BIBLE ILLITERATES SHOULD PAY DAVID FOR THIS COURSE IN THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS

  16. David Avatar
    David

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  17. Terence M Blackett Avatar
    Terence M Blackett

    Gentlemen, gentlemen: we know that testosterone levels higher than 1000ng/dl or 35nmol/L are generally considered “significantly above normal” for us men but the size of our gonads (balls) does not necessarily equate to testicular fortitude given the challenging times we all are facing…

    In the words of Rodney King: “Can’t we all just get along…”

    @DAVID (Blogmaster & Svengali) “Can you change the Blog’s pixelation as well as font & possible template, please? To allow for less stretching…

    Blessings on the BU Family (In-Laws & Out-Laws alike) – you know who you are!!!

  18. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Terence B

    Glad to see you are still around, as you can read not much has changed since the days of yore, but welcome back but keep the
    Buller- Lytton’s phraseology in Blighty.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    You do not miss a trick LOL

  20. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    I lost track of who is saying what but didn’t realize that the oxford and india astrazeneca are one and the same. Am just monitoring all the people i know who took different ones.
    https://starcomnetwork.net/blog/2021/03/18/astrazeneca-vaccine-declared-safe-and-effective-by-the-eu-medicines-regulator/

  21. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    https://youtu.be/KWRZhXY7qcI

  22. David Avatar
    David

    Attached are Covid-19 charts to tonight’s current GIS / Worldometer data. Re. Barbados’ positivity data We are still trending downwards near 5%. Re. Active cases Barbados has reclaimed a place comparable with Trinidad and St Lucia and re. daily cases we are strongly trending downwards. The Barbados situation has not yet reached December 2020 levels but it might be impossible to do so until a much higher proportion of people gets vaccinated, if a Variant is driving the incidence of cases . Jamaica’s case loads seem to be consistently going in the wrong direction – Source: Lyall Small
  23. David Avatar
    David

    Congrats to ALL Barbadians and others on the island to be able to arrest what appeared to be an untenable situation a few weeks ago. We must continue to be vigilant.

  24. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Congrats to our Supreme Leader Mia Mottley and her team!

  25. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Tron,

    Yes, they have done a great job.

  26. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    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”

  27. Tron Avatar
    Tron

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

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

  28. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    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.

  29. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Canada is very protective of its internal corporate interests.

    The banks for example, operate in a very protectionist environment.

    https://financialpost.com/news/fp-street/how-canadas-banking-protections-stifle-innovation-at-home-but-give-big-six-free-rein-to-expand-abroad

  30. David Avatar
    David

    AstraZeneca vaccine is 79% effective against symptomatic Covid-19, company says

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/health/astrazeneca-vaccine-efficacy-us-based-clinical-trial/index.html

  31. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    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.”

  32. David Avatar
    David

    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)

  33. David Avatar
    David

    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)

  34. David Avatar
    David

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  35. David Avatar
    David

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  36. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    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.

  37. David Avatar
    David

    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

Older Comments
1 2 3

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading