Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

European countries to resume AstraZeneca jabs after safety backing

Posted on by

EMA says benefits outweigh risks but it is continuing to study possible link with very rare blood clotting disorder

Italy, France and several other countries will resume administering AstraZeneca jabs from Friday after Europe’s medicines regulator said the vaccine was “safe and effective” and its benefits outweighed its risks.

Germany and Portugal will resume on Monday, Spain and the Netherlands next week, while Sweden’s public health agency said it would take “a few days” to decide.

Continue reading...

England’s lockdown easing not affected by vaccine delays, says PM – video

Posted on by

Boris Johnson has said delays in vaccine supplies will not affect the government’s roadmap out of lockdown. ‘We’ve always said that in a vaccination programme of this pace and scale, some interruptions in supply are inevitable,’ he said. ‘The progress along the road to freedom remains unchecked.’

Continue reading...

Covid vaccine side-effects: what are they, who gets them and why? | Nicola Davis

Posted on by

Most side-effects are mild and short-lived, and some groups are more likely to get them than others

According to Public Health England, most side-effects from the Covid vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca – are mild and short-lived. These include soreness where the jab was given, feeling tired or achy and headaches. Uncommon side-effects include having swollen lymph nodes.

Continue reading...

AstraZeneca vaccine ‘safe and effective’, says European Medicines Agency – video

Posted on by

The Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is 'safe and effective' and its benefits outweigh the risks, Europe’s medicines regulator has said. The director of the European Medicines Agency, Emer Cooke, said the agency’s safety committee had reached 'a clear scientific conclusion' and had not found that the vaccine was associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots

Continue reading...

Matt Hancock confirms dip in UK Covid vaccine supply for April

Posted on by

Health secretary says stocks will be affected by need to retest 1.7m doses and delay from India

Matt Hancock has said there will be a significant dip in vaccine supply in April, confirming supplies have been hit by a need to retest 1.7m doses and a delay in arrival of imports from India.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Hancock stressed the overall target timetable for vaccinations would not change but said he wanted to give more information, following the “speculation we’ve seen overnight”, after he was criticised for a press conference on Wednesday where the drop in supply went unexplained.

Continue reading...

US to send 4m AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Mexico and Canada

Posted on by

Biden administration has come under pressure to share vaccine, which has been authorized in other countries but not yet in US

The United States plans to send roughly 4m doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine that it is not using to Mexico and Canada in loan deals with the two countries.

Mexico will receive 2.5m doses of the vaccine and Canada will receive 1.5m doses, the official said.

Continue reading...

Australia politics live: Morrison says issue of ‘vile language’ by staffer has been dealt with; IR bill passes Senate

Posted on by

Pared-back bill now relates only to casual employment; government faces scrutiny over its botched vaccine booking website. Follow all the latest updates

Four Corners has announced its episode for Monday. Here is the release:

On Monday Four Corners investigates how and why Brittany Higgins’ story was kept quiet for almost two years.

It does not bode well for the Centre Alliance “alliance” if its two remaining MPs can’t come to an agreement of whether or not there was an agreement.

Continue reading...

Older people more likely to catch Covid a second time

Posted on by

Study finds under-65s have about 80% protection from virus for at least six months but over-65s only 47%

Older people who have recovered from Covid cannot assume they are immune from a second attack, according to a new study that shows the under-65s are much less susceptible to reinfection.

The study carried out in Denmark found that the under-65s had about 80% protection for at least six months from catching Covid a second time. But the over-65s had only 47% protection.

Continue reading...

Vaccine supply shortage does not change UK Covid roadmap, says Matt Hancock – video

Posted on by

The health secretary is not concerned about an NHS warning that a 'significant reduction' of vaccine supplies could leave people under the age of 50 waiting an extra month for their first shot. 

Playing down the importance of what he described as a 'normal operational letter', Matt Hancock said the government's plan to offer every adult a vaccine by the end of July had not changed. 'Vaccine supply is always lumpy,' he said. 'These supply schedules have moved up and down throughout this whole rollout –it's absolutely par for the course.'

Continue reading...

European countries at the start of a third wave of Covid, experts warn

Posted on by

Decision to pause use of AstraZeneca jab could lead to more deaths as new variant cases increase rapidly

Large parts of Europe are at the start of a third coronavirus wave, experts have said, with warnings that the decision to pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over health concerns is likely lead to a rise in cases and a high number of deaths as more contagious new variants account for the majority of cases.

Christian Drosten, a leading virologist at Berlin’s Charité hospital said Germany’s epidemiological situation was “not good right now”, and was compounded both by the exponential rise in the spread of the B117 mutation which first originated in Britain that now makes up about three-quarters of new cases in Germany, and the decision to temporarily stop using Oxford/AstraZeneca. “We need this vaccine,” he insisted.

Continue reading...

Ursula von der Leyen says EU could halt vaccine exports to UK – video

Posted on by

The EU commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has hinted that the bloc could withhold vaccine exports to the UK, reopening a dispute with the British government over supply delays affecting the European inoculation campaign. 'We want reciprocity,' she said. 'This is an invitation to show us that there are also doses coming to us from the UK'

Continue reading...

Covid: EU unveils ‘digital green certificate’ to allow citizens to travel

Posted on by

Plan will also allow states most reliant on tourism to make bilateral arrangements with non-EU members – including UK

The European commission has unveiled a “digital green certificate” that could allow EU citizens who have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 to travel more freely within the bloc this summer.

The plan would also allow southern states such as Spain, Greece and Portugal, whose economies are most reliant on tourism, to make bilateral arrangements with non-EU members – including Britain – providing the deals are approved by the commission.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: AstraZeneca jab is safe, says UK health secretary; Trump urges people to get vaccinated

Posted on by

Matt Hancock says vaccine is ‘saving lives right now’; former US president addresses ‘a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me’

China will allow foreign visitors who have had Chinese-made vaccine to enter the country, Helen Davidson reports.

Related: China to allow foreign visitors who have had Chinese-made vaccine

Poland has reported 25,052 daily coronavirus cases, its highest rate since November, Reuters reports.

In total, the country of 38 million has reported 1,956,974 cases and 48,032 deaths.

Continue reading...

China to only allow foreign visitors who have had Chinese-made vaccine

Posted on by

Move raises questions as China’s vaccines not approved in many countries to which it is opening travel

China is resuming visa processing for foreigners from dozens of countries, but only if they have been inoculated against Covid-19 with a Chinese-made vaccine.

The move has raised questions about the motivations behind the demand, given China’s vaccines are not approved in many of the countries to which it has opened travel and that it will not accept foreign vaccines made elsewhere, including those approved by the World Health Organization.

Continue reading...

Why home-produced Covid vaccine hasn’t helped India, Russia and China rollouts

Posted on by

Challenge of reaching vast, far-flung populations is combined with a lack of public interest

The day India started coronavirus vaccinations, Amit Mehra’s name was on the priority list. But he never made an appointment. “I’m not inclined to get vaccinated just because it’s available,” says the 47-year-old Delhi hospital worker.

Two and a half thousand miles away, strolling past a popup inoculation centre near Red Square in Moscow, Magomed Zurabov is similarly reluctant. Suspicious that the pandemic was deliberately engineered, he has no intention of being vaccinated, he says. Instead, he is “taking the necessary precautions”: wearing a mask and using disinfectant.

Continue reading...

Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine: which countries have paused jab and why

Posted on by

Analysis: Germany, France, Spain and Italy head an expanding list of EU countries to have put its use on hold

A host of European countries have put all vaccinations with this jab on hold, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway and Ireland. Some others such as Estonia and Austria have suspended vaccinations from particular batches of the vaccine.

Continue reading...

Benefits of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine ‘firmly outweigh any risk’, says EMA director – video

Posted on by

The EMA is conducting an investigation into the safety of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after Germany, France, Italy and other EU countries suspended its use over isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts. 

Director Emer Cooke stated the EMA is "still firmly convinced the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine … outweigh the risk of these side effects." The investigative panel will meet again on Thursday when they will publish their findings to the public.

Continue reading...

AstraZeneca jab: EU regulator ‘firmly convinced’ benefits outweigh risks

Posted on by

Agency says there are ‘no indications’ the vaccine causes blood clots, but the risk may be higher for some groups

The EU’s medicines regulator has said it remains “firmly convinced” the benefits of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine outweigh the risks, but isolated cases of blood clots “are a serious concern and need serious and detailed scientific evaluation”.

Emer Cooke, the head of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said there was no indication that the shot had caused any of the incidents, but the agency was investigating them thoroughly and would report it conclusions on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Ex-Covid tsar urges Donald Trump to tackle Republican vaccine hesitancy

Posted on by
  • Adm Brett Giroir says Trump’s leadership ‘matters a great deal’
  • Poll found 49% of Republican men would refuse vaccine

Donald Trump’s former coronavirus testing tsar has urged the former president to address Covid vaccine hesitancy among Republicans, even as the man who some say has assumed Trump’s platform and megaphone, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, criticized vaccine outreach by the Biden administration.

Several recent surveys have shown vaccine hesitancy is highest among Republican men. Public health experts are scrambling to respond.

Continue reading...

Chaos in Germany and Italy after suspension of Oxford vaccine

Posted on by

Decision has led to vaccination centres closing doors and appointments being cancelled

There has been chaos and confusion in Germany and Italy after their decisions to suspend use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, with vaccination centres closing their doors and appointments being abruptly cancelled.

The countries are two of the biggest on a growing list of European nations that have in recent days ordered a pause in the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Continue reading...