vaccine – The Philadelphia Observer

Africa desperately short of COVID vaccine: ‘This IS INSANE’

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:00:15 +0000

In South Africa, which has the continent’s most robust economy and its biggest coronavirus caseload, just 0.8% of the population is fully vaccinated

In the global race to vaccinate people against COVID-19, Africa is tragically at the back of the pack.

In fact, it has barely gotten out of the starting blocks.

In South Africa, which has the continent’s most robust economy and its biggest coronavirus caseload, just 0.8% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to a worldwide tracker kept by Johns Hopkins University. And hundreds of thousands of the country’s health workers, many of whom come face-to-face with the virus every day, are still waiting for their shots.

Lawrence B. Brown, A Former Slave’s Historical House Honored by Florida

In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest country with more than 200 million people, only 0.1% are fully protected. Kenya, with 50 million people, is even lower. Uganda has recalled doses from rural areas because it doesn’t have nearly enough to fight outbreaks in big cities.

Chad didn’t administer its first vaccine shots until this past weekend. And there are at least five other countries in Africa where not one dose has been put into an arm, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In this May 25, 2021, file photo, a health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at the Orange Farm Clinic near Johannesburg. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

The World Health Organization says the continent of 1.3 billion people is facing a severe shortage of vaccine at the same time a new wave of infections is rising across Africa. Vaccine shipments into Africa have ground to a “near halt,” WHO said last week.

“It is extremely concerning and at times frustrating,” said Africa CDC Director Dr. John Nkengasong, a Cameroonian virologist who is trying to ensure some of the world’s poorest nations get a fair share of vaccines in a marketplace where they can’t possibly compete.

The United States and Britain, in contrast, have fully vaccinated more than 40% of their populations, with higher rates for adults and high-risk people. Countries in Europe are near or past 20% coverage, and their citizens are starting to think about where their vaccine certificates might take them on their summer vacations. The U.S., France and Germany are even offering shots to youngsters, who are at very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

Poorer countries had warned as far back as last year of this impending vaccine inequality, fearful that rich nations would hoard doses.

In an interview, Nkengasong called on the leaders of wealthy nations meeting this week at the G-7 summit to share spare vaccines — something the United States has already agreed to do — and avert a “moral catastrophe.”

Source: Africa desperately short of COVID vaccine: ‘This IS INSANE’

‘No indication’ AstraZeneca shot causes clots, EU agency says

Juan Ignacio — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 19:46:37 +0000

A version of this story appeared in the March 17 edition of CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday.

(CNN)After virtually all of western Europe temporarily suspended the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, the continent’s top medicines regulator struck out against safety concerns around the shot, saying there is “no indication” that it causes blood clots and that its lifesaving benefits outweigh the risk of any potential side effects.Marvin Was Simply MarvelousThe backing from Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency, came after France, Spain, Germany, Italy and more than a dozen other countries halted use of the vaccine, even as the continent confronts a third wave of the pandemic and faces criticism over sluggish vaccination rollout campaigns.The actions of European governments have surprised experts and caused a myriad of questions among people who have had or are in line to get the shot, Rob Picheta writes.But the pervading message from health experts has been one of calm; when placed in context the reported cases of blood clotting are rare and no greater than numbers would be in the general population, while the vaccine has been proven to work in reducing Covid-19 cases.

Source: ‘No indication’ AstraZeneca shot causes clots, EU agency says

Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may cut coronavirus transmission, researchers say

Juan Ignacio — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 02:39:48 +0000

London (CNN)The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine appears to substantially reduce transmission of the virus, rather than simply preventing symptomatic infections, UK researchers have suggested.The rate of positive PCR tests declined by about half after two doses, according to preliminary results by researchers at the University of Oxford that have yet to be peer reviewed.

Their analysis, released as a preprint Tuesday,also supports spacing out doses and estimates good efficacy after just one shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos will Step Down As CEO / Andy Jassy will Take OverThe study did not measure transmission directly — for example, by tracing contacts who were infected by study volunteers. But the researchers did collect regular nasal swabs from some participants and found that the rate of positive PCR tests fell by half after two doses of the vaccine. After one dose only, the rate of positive tests fell by 67%.“While transmission studies per se were not included in the analysis, swabs were obtained from volunteers every week in the UK study, regardless of symptoms, to allow assessment of the overall impact of the vaccine on risk of infection and thus a surrogate for potential onward transmission,” the authors write.

If the vaccine were simply making infections milder, PCR positivity would not change, the authors argued in the preprint analysis. “A measure of overall PCR positivity is appropriate to assess whether there is a reduction in the burden of infection.”Coronavirus vaccine trials have primarily looked at prevention of symptomatic cases of Covid-19.

Previously, there has been little other public data suggesting that vaccines could prevent people from passing the infection to others.Speaking to the UK’s Science Media Centre (SMC), Helen Fletcher, professor of immunology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the data in the study “suggest a possibility that the vaccine could have an impact on transmission but further follow-up would be needed to confirm this.”Dr. Doug Brown, chief executive of the British Society for Immunology, told the SMC the study “hints that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may be effective in stopping people being able to transmit the virus.”He added: “While this would be extremely welcome news, we do need more data before this can be confirmed and so it’s important that we all still continue to follow social distancing guidance after we have been vaccinated.”

Source: Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may cut coronavirus transmission, researchers say

CDC Panel Says Frontline Workers and People Over 74 Should Get Vaccine Next

Juan Ignacio — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 13:05:27 +0000

By Abby Goodnough and Jan Hoffman

Striking a compromise between two high-risk population groups, a panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Sunday to recommend that people age 75 and older be next in line to receive the coronavirus vaccine in the United States, along with about 30 million “frontline essential workers,” such as emergency responders, teachers and grocery store employees.

The debate about who should receive the vaccine in these early months has grown increasingly urgent as the daily tally of cases has swelled to numbers unimaginable to the general public even weeks ago. The country has already begun vaccinating health care workers, and on Monday, CVS and Walgreens are to begin a mass inoculation campaign at the nation’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. This week roughly six million doses of the newly authorized Moderna vaccine are to start arriving at more than 3,700 locations around the country, including many smaller and rural hospitals, widening the rollout that began with Pfizer’s vaccine last week.

Davis and Boseman have brought history to life

The panel of doctors and public health experts had previously indicated it would recommend a much broader group of Americans defined as essential workers — about 90 million people with jobs designated by a division of the Department of Homeland Security as critical to keeping society functioning — as the next priority population, and that older people who live independently should come later.

But in hours of discussion on Sunday, conducted remotely, the committee members concluded that given the limited initial supply of vaccine and the higher Covid-19 death rate among older Americans, it made more sense to allow the oldest among them to go next, along with workers whose jobs put them “at substantially higher risk of exposure” to the virus.

“I feel very strongly we do need to have that balance of saving lives and keeping our infrastructure in place,” said Dr. Helen Talbot, a member of the panel and an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University.

Source: CDC Panel Says Frontline Workers and People Over 74 Should Get Vaccine Next

Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to be sold to developing countries at cost price

Juan Ignacio — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 22:27:23 +0000

The coronavirus vaccine produced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca will be available on a non-profit basis “in perpetuity” to low- and middle-income countries in the developing world.

The details of arrangements to supply poorer countries came as AstraZeneca revealed the interim results of a phase 3 trial of the vaccine, which is being heralded as the first to meet the more challenging requirements of the developing world.

However, vaccine hopes for poorer nations were tempered by the head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said there was a risk the world’s poor could be trampled in a “stampede for vaccines”, adding that $4.3bn (£3.2bn) was still needed in order to share vaccines fairly.

David Dinkins, NYC’s first Black mayor, is dead at 93

Unlike the vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, which requires ultra-cold storage, the AstraZeneca vaccine can be kept in the kind of conventional fridge used to store vaccines around the world, with a shelf life of up to six months.

Also unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, AstraZeneca’s experimental vaccine is already a part of Covax, the global initiative that is hoping to distribute about 2bn doses to 92 low- and middle-income countries at a maximum cost of $3 a dose.

As global justice campaigners demanded more transparency from Oxford and AstraZeneca over details of the deal to supply doses to people in the developing world, the partnership confirmed in a statement that lower-income countries would receive the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis.

“A key element of Oxford’s partnership with AstraZeneca is the joint commitment to provide the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis for the duration of the pandemic across the world, and in perpetuity to low- and middle-income countries,” it said.

Source: Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to be sold to developing countries at cost price

Who Should Get Priority Access To COVID-19 Vaccine?

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 14:13:49 +0000

(Photo credits: Getty Images)

By Dereck Major

OPINION—Some COVID-19 vaccines are showing positive signs of working, leading many to wonder who should get first access to a vaccine.

According to MarketWatch, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials and an outside advisory committee are brainstorming the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine. The agency is also considering giving priority access to the vaccine to several groups including key national security officials, high-risk individuals, and essential workers.

However, some are wondering if Black and Latino Americans, the most affected races, should get priority access. Philanthropist Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, floated the idea in an interview with Time Magazine.

“In the U.S., that would be Black people next, quite honestly, and many other people of color. They are having disproportionate effects from COVID-19,” Gates told Time.

NAACP Inks Multi-Year Deal With CBS Television Studios

She added the next step would be to prioritize those with underlying conditions, older people, and essential workers. Black and Latino Americans have been getting infected and dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than White Americans.

In May, the NAACP launched the #WeAreDoneDying campaign to expose inequities in the healthcare system. A month later Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted institutional racism is a contributing factor to the severe impact the virus has had on Black Americans.

Despite being a good idea, it doesn’t seem like giving priority access is an idea many are on board with. CDC spokeswoman Jasmine Reed wouldn’t commit to the idea.

“The ACIP board has created a work group to review data on COVID-19 vaccine candidates and consider a recommendation to CDC,” Reed told MarketWatch. “A portion of the group’s work will involve determining if there are priority groups that should get vaccinated based on occupation, risk of serious outcomes, and health disparities.”

Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association and former secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said fast tracking a COVID-19 vaccine based on race and ethnicity could lead to the wrong groups being prioritized.

“It says that people are at risk because of their skin color, which isn’t the case—they’re at risk because they have public-facing jobs, chronic diseases, and other social determinants that put them at risk,” Benjamin said. “And we have to be very careful—this is not a Black disease. People should not be concerned about African Americans being more infectious than anybody else.”

Source: Who Should Get Priority Access To COVID-19 Vaccine?

UK ‘95% sure’ Russian hackers tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 14:09:01 +0000

The UK security minister James Brokenshire has said Britain is “more than 95%” sure that Russian state-sponsored hackers targeted UK, US and Canadian organisations involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine.

Brokenshire said the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and its counterparts in the other countries were confident “Russian intelligence agencies” were responsible for the attacks on drug companies and research groups.

During an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Brokenshire also said he supported the Conservative chief whip’s decision to expel the new chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, Julian Lewis, from the party.

Top 4 Greatest Black Movies of 21st Century

“The National Cyber Security Centre [NCSC] are 95%-plus satisfied, as are our US and Canadian counterparts,” he said. “We are very careful in terms of calling these things out, ensuring that we can have that confidence in attribution. We do believe that we have this here.

“I think the Russian government is being so hypocritical claiming to support responsible behaviour in cyberspace while secretly conducting cyber-attacks like this and others.”

The comments come after the NCSC said drug companies and research groups were being targeted by a group known as APT29, which it said was part of the Kremlin’s intelligence services.

Source: UK ‘95% sure’ Russian hackers tried to steal coronavirus vaccine research

Moderna’s vaccine announcement set off a frenzy. Some are calling for an investigation

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 11:53:29 +0000

New York (CNN Business)Moderna set off a frenzy on Wall Street earlier this month when it announced positive, preliminary results from its coronavirus vaccine trial. As the hype grew, the young biotech company and its leading investor wasted no time capitalizing on the briefly surging stock price.

Even as critics accused Moderna of overhyping the results released on May 18, a series of transactions were executed before its share price fizzled over the next week. The timing of those deals, former SEC officials said, appear to be “highly problematic” and should be investigated for potential illegal market manipulation.

Just hours after revealing the promising vaccine results, Moderna (MRNA) sold 17.6 million shares to the public. That share sale, unveiled after the closing bell on May 18, was priced at $76; Moderna traded at just $48 as recently as May 6. The deal instantly raised $1.3 billion.

Two of Moderna’s top executives also cashed in on the boom at their company, which had suddenly amassed a $29 billion market value despite the fact it has no marketed products.

Thousands around the world protest Floyd’s death in global display of solidarity

Moderna’s chief financial officer and chief medical officer sold nearly $30 million of shares combined on May 18 and May 19. Those stock sales, reported first by CNN Business, were done through frequently used automated insider-trading plans. These plans, known as 10b5-1 plans, lay out future trades at set prices or on set dates to shield executives from accusations they are profiting from confidential information and Moderna says the plans are in line with its policies.

Days later, Moderna’s leading shareholder, venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering, sold 1 million shares on May 21 and 22 at an average price of $69.47, according to filings reviewed by CNN Business. The sales raked in $69.5 million for the venture capital firm.

Flagship Pioneering was founded by Noubar Afeyan, the co-founder and chairman of Moderna. The VC firm owned nearly 51 million Moderna shares as of the end of March, according to the most recent filings.

Source: Moderna’s vaccine announcement set off a frenzy. Some are calling for an investigation

Polio and Measles Could Surge After Disruption of Vaccine Programs

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 28 May 2020 13:08:28 +0000

The widespread interruption of routine immunization programs around the world during the coronavirus pandemic is putting 80 million children under 1 year old at risk of contracting deadly, vaccine-preventable diseases, according to a report Friday by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The groups surveyed 129 poor and middle-income countries and found that 68 had some degree of disruption of vaccine services through clinics and through large inoculation campaigns.

Measles initiatives, for example, have been suspended in 27 countries, including Chad and Ethiopia, and polio programs are on hold in 38, including Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jennifer Carroll Foy Jumps Into Virginia Governor’s Race, Hoping To Make History

Many public health experts say they are worried that deaths from diseases including cholera, rotavirus and diphtheria could far outstrip those from Covid-19 itself.

The report highlighted warnings about polio, which had recently been all but eradicated, a hard-won victory that resulted from mass immunization programs that reached millions of children.

Dr. Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi, said that developing countries had made big gains in immunizations against numerous diseases in recent years. Before the pandemic hit, he said, more children in more countries had been protected against more vaccine-preventable diseases than ever before.

“Due to Covid-19, this immense progress is now under threat, risking the resurgence of diseases like measles and polio,” he said.

Restarting immunization programs is crucial not just for preventing more outbreaks of life-threatening diseases, he said: “It will also ensure we have the infrastructure we need to roll out an eventual Covid-19 vaccine on a global scale.”

Source: Polio and Measles Could Surge After Disruption of Vaccine Programs

Trump ‘offers large sums’ for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine

Juan Ignacio — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 13:32:50 +0000

The Trump administration has offered a German medical company “large sums of money” for exclusive access to a Covid-19 vaccine, German media have reported.

The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the US, the broadsheet Die Welt reports, citing German government circles.

The US president had offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac “large sums of money” to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt.

Kierra Sheard Returns with Highly Anticipated New Single ‘It Keeps Happening’ / LISTEN

According to an anonymous source quoted in the newspaper, Trump was doing everything to secure a vaccine against the coronavirus for the US, “but for the US only”.

The German government was reportedly offering its own financial incentives for the vaccine to stay in the country.

The German health minister Jens Spahn said that a takeover of the CureVac company by the Trump administration was “off the table”. CureVac would only develop vaccine “for the whole world”, Spahn said, “not for individual countries”.

Source: Trump ‘offers large sums’ for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine

Facebook Comments