In a bad year for flu, we can lose 20,000-25,000 people. With a largely vaccinated population, there are likely to be about 30,000 Covid-related deaths over the next 12 months, an average of about 80 deaths every day. This is about half of one per cent of the deaths we would normally expect to happen in that period.
And not all of these will be additional deaths. In many cases, Covid will just substitute for another respiratory infection.
Dr Susan Hopkins, an epidemiologist consultant in infectious diseases and microbiology from Public Health England, has pointed to the possibility we will suffer a bad flu season in 2021/22 because the level of population immunity has been pushed down by Covid restrictions in 2020/21.
AstraZeneca
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One of the European drug regulator’s senior officials today claimed there is now a ‘clear’ link between AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine and potentially deadly blood clots.
Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccines at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said that CVST — a brain blockage that can lead to a stroke — was occurring more often than expected in younger people.
..The UK’s safety watchdog, the MHRA, has so far spotted 30 rare clotting events in 18.1million doses – around one in every 600,000. But the EMA believes it may occur in up to one in every 100,000 under-60s.
Two embryonic cell lines have been used to develop COVID-19 vaccines: human embryonic kidney cells called HEK 293 and human embryonic retinal cells called PER.C6. The PER.C6 cell line is from an elective abortion in the Netherlands in 1985, and the HEK 293 cell line comes from an undisclosed source (either spontaneous miscarriage or elective abortion) in the Netherlands in about 1972.
Johnson & Johnson used PER.C6 cells in their COVID-19 vaccine development, and the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine used HEK 293 cells. CanSino Biologics and Gamaleya Research Institute’s Sputnik V vaccines have also used HEK 293 cells.
Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech used HEK 293 cells in their proof-of-concept tests to see effectively take up the genetic instructions contained in these vaccines and produce the required spike protein. But human embryonic cell lines were not used to make either company’s final vaccine.
HEK 293 and PER.C6 cell lines have been genetically altered to include the part of the adenovirus instructions that trigger replication of adenoviruses. This allows the production of a large amount of the final vaccination product and allows the removal of the adenoviral replication instructions in the vaccine.
Late Monday, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) notified NIAID, BARDA, and AstraZeneca that it was concerned by information released by AstraZeneca on initial data from its COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. The DSMB expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data. We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/niaid-statement-astrazeneca-vaccine
The researchers added the gene for the coronavirus spike protein to another virus called an adenovirus. Adenoviruses are common viruses that typically cause colds or flu-like symptoms. The Oxford-AstraZeneca team used a modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus, known as ChAdOx1. It can enter cells, but it can’t replicate inside them.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/health/oxford-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine.html
Michael Yeadon was a scientific researcher and vice president at drugs giant Pfizer Inc. He co-founded a successful biotech. Then his career took an unexpected turn.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-vaccines-s
Wikipedia snapshot from 9 March 2021:
| Year | Company | Settlement | Violation(s) | Product(s) | Laws allegedly violated (if applicable) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | GlaxoSmithKline[1][6] | $3 billion ($1B criminal, $2B civil) | Criminal: Off-label promotion, failure to disclose safety data. Civil: paying kickbacks to physicians, making false and misleading statements concerning the safety of Avandia, reporting false best prices and underpaying rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program | Avandia (not providing safety data), Wellbutrin, Paxil (promotion of paediatric use), Advair, Lamictal, Zofran, Imitrex, Lotronex, Flovent, Valtrex | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2009 | Pfizer[2] | $2.3 billion | Off-label promotion, kickbacks | Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, Lyrica | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2013 | Johnson & Johnson[7] | $2.2 billion | Off-label promotion, kickbacks | Risperdal, Invega, Nesiritide | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2012 | Abbott Laboratories[8] | $1.5 billion | Off-label promotion | Depakote | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2009 | Eli Lilly[9] | $1.4 billion | Off-label promotion | Zyprexa | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2001 | TAP Pharmaceutical Products[10] | $875 million | Medicare fraud, kickbacks | Lupron | False Claims Act, Prescription Drug Marketing Act |
| 2012 | Amgen[11] | $762 million | Off-label promotion, kickbacks | Aranesp | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2010 | GlaxoSmithKline[12] | $750 million | Poor manufacturing practices | Kytril, Bactroban, Paxil CR, Avandamet | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2005 | Serono[13] | $704 million | Off-label promotion, kickbacks, monopolistic practices | Serostim | False Claims Act |
| 2008 | Merck[14] | $650 million | Medicare fraud, kickbacks | Zocor, Vioxx, Pepsid | False Claims Act, Medicaid Rebate Statute |
| 2007 | Purdue Pharma[15] | $601 million | Off-label promotion | Oxycontin | False Claims Act |
| 2010 | Allergan[16] | $600 million | Off-label promotion | Botox | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2010 | AstraZeneca[17] | $520 million | Off-label promotion, kickbacks | Seroquel | False Claims Act |
| 2007 | Bristol-Myers Squibb[18] | $515 million | Off-label promotion, kickbacks, Medicare fraud | Abilify, Serzone | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2002 | Schering-Plough[19] | $500 million | Poor manufacturing practices | Claritin | FDA Current Good Manufacturing Practices |
| 2006 | Mylan[20] | $465 million | Misclassification under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program | EpiPen (epinephrine) | False Claims Act |
| 2006 | Schering-Plough[21] | $435 million | Off-label promotion, kickbacks, Medicare fraud | Temodar, Intron A, K-Dur, Claritin RediTabs | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2004[22] | Pfizer | $430 million | Off-label promotion | Neurontin | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2008 | Cephalon[23] | $425 million | Off-label promotion[23] | Actiq, Gabitril, Provigil | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2010 | Novartis[24] | $423 million | Off-label promotion, kickbacks | Trileptal | False Claims Act, FDCA |
| 2003 | AstraZeneca[25] | $355 million | Medicare fraud | Zoladex | Prescription Drug Marketing Act |
| 2004 | Schering-Plough[26] | $345 million | Medicare fraud, kickbacks | Claritin | False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute |
Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday.
BELGIUM has advised against giving the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to over-55s because of a lack of data about its efficacy.
It became the latest European Union country to recommend that the Covid jab should not be given to older people. Health minister Frank Vandenbroucke said the country’s advisory health council, had suggested the doses of the Oxford-produced vaccine should only be administered to people younger than 55. He said Belgium was reviewing its vaccination strategy because AstraZeneca’s jab was seen as a key part of the government’s plan to prioritise vulnerable groups.
Ivor Cummins aka the Fat Emperor – gives James the lowdown on why you can’t trust anything our governments tell us about Covid-19. If you want the facts on Coronavirus – how deadly is it? do lockdowns and masks work? how does it compare with previous pandemics? – you’ve come to the right place
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A promising Australian candidate for a coronavirus vaccine has been abandoned after trial participants returned false HIV positive results.
Australia had previously agreed to buy 51 million doses of the vaccine being developed by Australian firm CSL and the University of Queensland (UQ).
The government said orders of other vaccines would now fill the shortfall.
CSL and UQ stressed that the positive results were false – meaning trial participants’ health was not at risk.
http://archive.today/2020.12.11-112743/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-55269381
Randomised control trial study showing safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine has clear conflicts of interest.
- Vaccine produced by a partnership between a University of Oxford research institute, Vaccitech, and AstraZeneca, does not need to be stored at freezing temperatures.
- Cheaper and easier to produce than the high-efficacy vaccines produced by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna.
- The price of AstraZeneca’s shares dropped on the news, and an analysis from an investment bank concluded, “We believe that this product will never be licensed in the US.”
- A closer look at the the Oxford-AstraZeneca trials reveals some very shaky science.
- Cherry-picked the data
- Dosing issues
- Opaque planning and data analysis procedures
- Age group selection
https://www.wired.com/story/the-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-data-isnt-up-to-snuff/
Brief Summary:The aim of the study is to assess the safety, efficacy, and immunogenicity of AZD1222 for the prevention of COVID-19.
| Actual Study Start Date : | August 28, 2020 |
| Actual Primary Completion Date : | March 5, 2021 |
| Estimated Study Completion Date : | February 14, 2023 |
Drugs are a risky business and, for equity investors hoping to eventually share in the profits, each stage of development presents an escalated risk. Lo reasoned that substantially lowering the risks, even if it meant correspondingly lowering the rewards, could attract investment instead from ordinary bond markets—that is, from managers of pension funds, university endowments, and sovereign-wealth funds, who control a great deal of money and generally invest in low-risk, low-return assets.
Given how uncertain vaccine markets are, the paper notes, governments (“public-sector interventions,” and so forth), would need to guarantee a vaccine bond by committing in advance to purchase and stockpile vaccines. The paper’s most creative suggestion is for a subscription model, a kind of vaccine Netflix, where governments would pay an annual fee to a new international-development fund, one that could perhaps be managed by the G7. The fund could float a bond to both advance vaccine biotechs and to make market commitments to Big Pharma. The virus, the markets, and the science are global.
…it would be much better for the government to say that the money is not from taxpayers. “We’re borrowing it from the rest of the world. And if and when you succeed, or any of the other hundred and fifty projects—that could have been funded, but aren’t being funded right now—succeeds, all the bond holders will get paid. That would be great. Everybody earns a return.”
AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful by most of the countries with which it has struck supply agreements, a senior executive told Reuters.
With 25 companies testing their vaccine candidates on humans and getting ready to immunise hundred millions of people once the products are shown to work, the question of who pays for any claims for damages in case of side effects has been a tricky point in supply negotiations.
“In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest,” he said, adding that Astra and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.
AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful by most of the countries with which it has struck supply agreements, a senior executive told Reuters.
The Recovery trial has steadfastly ignored Professor Didier Raoult and a string of countries that have implemented his protocol, early use of HCQ with Azythromycin in safe doses, despite the fact that, after treating 3,737 patients — the single largest study in the world —Raoult has lost only 0.6 per cent, while Horby and Landray are presiding over carnage —a fatality rate of 25 per cent.
- The Recovery trial has steadfastly ignored Professor Didier Raoult in the early use of HCQ with Azythromycin in safe doses.
- Raoult has lost only 0.6 per cent, while Horby and Landray are presiding over carnage —a fatality rate of 25 per cent.
- Landray admitted to an investigative journalist at FranceSoir ‘these are quite high doses to… have a chance of killing the virus.’ Or killing the patient.
- Recovery is not the only trial delivering dangerously elevated doses of HCQ to Covid patients. Dosage in the international Solidarity trial was four times greater than the dose being used in India.
- WHO has been working for years with Gilead Sciences trying to get the pharmaceutical company’s lacklustre drug Remdesivir to show efficacy at curing first Ebola, with poor results, and now Covid-19.
- Landray revealed Gilead pays scientists 20 to 50 times more to conduct a clinical trial than Horby and Landray were paid to conduct the Recovery trial.
- Horby is the executive director of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium which received 4.5 million pounds for research into vaccines.
- Horby established the Epidemic Research Group which is promised up to 14 million pounds from AstraZeneca and Zuckerberg/Chan of Facebook fame for the development of a Covid-19 vaccine which is being trialled by Oxford University.
- AstraZeneca is interested in merging with Gilead Sciences, which, if it went through, would create the biggest Big Pharma ever.
- Horby and Landray have announced that dexamethasone, a low-cost steroid which is also being tested has reduced the mortality rate of Covid-19 patients on ventilators from a scandalous 41 per cent to a still appalling 32 per cent.
- Raoult has pointed out that in his hospital, of the 0.6 per cent who die, a mere 16 per cent were in ICU
- In Britain, where almost 42,000 people have died of Covid, the only thing randomised, controlled trials have achieved, is to blind people to the evidence that 40,000 of those deaths could have been avoided.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2020/06/bring-on-britains-corona-clowns/p>
A British pharmaceutical giant is already manufacturing an unproven coronavirus vaccine as it hopes to dish out hundreds of millions of doses by September.
The Cambridge-based firm expects to have distributed hundreds of millions of doses of the vaccine this year and at least 2billion by mid-2021.
It has signed deals to produce 400million doses for the US and 100million for the UK if it is successful in human trials. Results are expected in August.
Britain has agreed to pay for the doses ‘as early as possible’ – with ministers hoping for a third of those to be ready for September if proven effective.
The Oxford University vaccine tipped as a “front runner” in the race to develop a coronavirus jab does not stop the virus in monkeys and may only be partially effective, experts have warned.
- All of the vaccinated monkeys treated with the Oxford vaccine became infected.
- Vaccine data suggests that the jab may not be able to prevent the spread of the virus between infected individuals.
