Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Study shows Oxford Covid vaccine has less protection against South African variant

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Researchers say vaccines’ focus must shift to protecting people from hospitalisation and death

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will not stop people becoming ill if they contract the South African variant of Covid-19, researchers have confirmed, warning that vaccines’ focus needs to shift from population immunity to protecting individuals from hospitalisation and death.

The small study in 2,000 people aged 31, who are less likely to become severely ill, adds to evidence from big trials of other vaccines carried out after the variant appeared in South Africa. Trial data from the Janssen and Novavax vaccines showed efficacy in South Africa was up to 60% against the variant, substantially lower than against the original virus.

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Freedom and fairness: Covid vaccine passport plans cause global unease

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Schemes are in development from Sweden to China, but there are fears around transmission and social unrest

It is the question being asked with increasing urgency around the world, at least in countries where the vaccine is already available: how much freedom to live life as it was before the pandemic should be granted to those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19?

Its impacts range from the speed at which economies can open, to when grandparents and grandchildren can hug again, but it is causing growing unease among decision-makers who warn there is a danger of dividing societies already under huge strain due to pandemic restraints.

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‘It feels like a placebo’: Mexico’s vaccine program sees disastrous launch

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Pace for vaccinations has slowed as government website to register crashes repeatedly and Covid death toll is third highest

Rodolfo spent hour after aggravating hour trying to register his elderly mother for a Covid-19 vaccination through a Mexican government website, only for the system to crash repeatedly.

“I spent three days fighting with the website,” he said. “My mom would have been unable to do it without me.”

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Nadhim Zahawi: UK has no plans to introduce Covid vaccine passports – video

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The vaccines minister insisted the government was not considering vaccine passports to allow those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel internationally. ‘Vaccines are not mandated in the UK ... and it would be discriminatory,’ Zahawi told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show. ‘We have no plans of introducing a vaccine passport’

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Oxford Covid jab less effective against South African variant, study finds

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University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University research shows vaccine has reduced efficacy against mutation

British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Saturday that its vaccine developed with the University of Oxford appeared to offer only limited protection against mild disease caused by the South African variant of Covid-19, based on early data from a trial.

The study from South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University showed the vaccine had significantly reduced efficacy against the South African variant, according to a Financial Times report published earlier in the day.

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Just how effective is the Oxford coronavirus vaccine for the over-65s? | David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters

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Behind the numbers: why some European countries have called into question the AstraZeneca jab

While the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Medicines Agency have both approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for all adults, Germany, France and six other European nations have recommended it only for those under 65, Belgium and Italy for people under 55 and Switzerland for nobody at all. Why are different regulators making different decisions?

The problem is the relevant trials recruited only 660 subjects aged 65 or over: 6% of participants. It is inevitable some groups are under-represented in studies; the Pfizer trials included only 4% with Asian ethnicity; nobody over 89 took part. But to have so few from those at highest risk from Covid-19 is unfortunate, to put it mildly.

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Coronavirus live news: surge testing starts in Worcestershire after South African variant detected; German minister angry over vaccine rollout

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A further seven people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Ireland, the PA news agency has reported. Another 390 positive cases of the virus were also notified by the Department of Health on Saturday. There are 602 Covid-positive inpatients in hospital, 67 of whom are in intensive care.

A total of 10,302,620 vaccinations have taken place in England between 8 December and 5 February, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 403,577 on the previous day’s figures.

Of this number, 9,831,897 were the first dose of the vaccine, a rise of 401,636 on the previous day’s figures, while 470,723 were the second dose, an increase of 1,941.

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UK on target to give all over-50s Covid jabs by May – taskforce chief

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Dr Clive Dix also says UK well-placed to respond if vaccine-resistant variant emerges

The head of the UK’s coronavirus vaccination taskforce has said he is optimistic that government will meet its target of vaccinating all over-50s by May.

No 10 confirmed on Friday that the vaccine programme was intended to reach all those over 50 and those aged 16 to 65 in at-risk groups by May, having previously said it aimed to do so “by the spring”.

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Coronavirus live news: variant first found in UK now accounts for 6% of German cases; Israel to ease lockdown

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Germany warns new variants are set to spread; Israel to keep borders closed despite easing lockdown

Slovak regional authorities have quarantined a Roma settlement after a quarter of its residents tested positive for the coronavirus.

The settlement of Sacurov near Vranov nad Toplou in the east of the country, made up of two three-storey apartment blocks and around 70 shacks, is to be closed off for 10 days.

“In a week-and-a-half it grew [from five] to the unreal number of 113, due to a failure to maintain quarantine and isolation,” he said.

More than 80% of people in some developing countries have seen their incomes fall due to the coronavirus pandemic, economists have found, warning that rising poverty could mean poorer countries struggle to curb infections – especially with mass vaccination potentially years away.

“Economic help is part and parcel of fighting the virus,” co-author of the study Shana Warren told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“If you want people to stay home to stop the virus spreading while they wait for vaccines you need to provide them with the economic support to do so.”

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A quarter of people in France, Germany and the US may refuse Covid vaccine

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Survey finds hesitancy related to trust in government, and more acute in younger people

Nearly four in ten people in France, more than 25% of those in the US and 23% in Germany say they definitely or probably will not get vaccinated against Covid-19, according to a survey that underlines the challenge facing governments.

Hesitancy was markedly lower in Italy (12%), the UK (14%) and the Netherlands (17%), according to the seven-country survey, which revealed a close correlation between people’s reluctance to be vaccinated and their trust in central government.

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African nations fear more Covid deaths before vaccination begins

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Campaigners call for vaccines to be prioritised to frontline health workers and people at highest risk

Communities across Africa are reeling as a second wave of Covid infections recedes, leaving thousands dead amid fears of further surges before mass vaccination campaigns can begin to make a difference.

Few countries in Africa will start immunising even frontline health workers until much later this year, prompting accusations that large orders by wealthy nations are costing the lives of medical staff in poorer parts of the world.

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UK minister announces launch of mix-and-match Covid jab trial – video

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The UK vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, says volunteers are being sought for a world-first trial giving a first dose of one vaccine type and a second dose of another.  Run by the University of Oxford, it will recruit 820 people over the age of 50 to receive a first dose of either the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

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Covid: Oxford trial to test efficacy of mix of vaccines for individuals

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Scientists aim to establish level of immunity in trial of 820 people, giving some a substitute vaccine at second appointment

Volunteers are being sought for a world-first trial to establish the efficacy of giving people a first dose of one vaccine and a second dose of a different vaccine.

The trial, which is being run by Oxford University and is funded by the government’s vaccine taskforce, has been described by ministers as “hugely important”.

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Israel opens coronavirus vaccines to all over-16s

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New age group eligible from Thursday while focus remains on older at-risk people

Israel’s health ministry has said it will offer coronavirus vaccines to anyone over the age of 16, as part of a rapid campaign in which the majority of older and vulnerable people have already received shots.

The ministry has told healthcare providers they can start booking appointments for the new age group starting on Thursday.

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Hancock: Oxford vaccine may reduce transmission of Covid by two-thirds – video

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The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, has welcomed a new study that suggests one dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine may reduce transmission of coronavirus by two-thirds. Hancock said the results of the trial backed up Britain's strategy to delay the administering of the second dose of the vaccine by 12 weeks.

Hancock added: 'We may well need boosters that have a slightly adjusted vaccine as well in the same way that we do for flu each year.' 

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Rishi Sunak is paying Covid bills off the backs of the poor. It shames our country | Gordon Brown

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A savage reversal of aid is happening at the very moment people need our help most. MPs must join together to stop it


Nothing shames our country more than Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, paying the bills for Covid off the backs of the poor – at home and abroad.

He has recently been pushed off his plan to cut £20 a week from the already low universal credit paid to 6 million of Britain’s poorest families.

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Single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine could cut transmission by 67%

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One jab could also offer protection of up to 76% for up to 12 weeks, a new study shows

One dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine provides sustained protection against Covid for at least three months and cuts transmission of the virus by two-thirds, according to research that appears to support the UK’s decision to delay booster shots.

Analysis of fresh data from three trials found that the first shot conferred on average 76% protection against symptomatic infections from three weeks until 90 days, and reduced transmission of the disease by 67%.

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Sputnik V vaccine has 91.6% efficacy against symptomatic Covid, Russian trial suggests

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Preliminary findings based on analysis of data from more than 20,000 participants

The Sputnik V vaccine, which has been the subject of scepticism since Russia began using it last year before trials had ended, is 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid according to data published in one of the world’s leading medical journals.

Results in the Lancet from 20,000 trial participants suggest Sputnik’s efficacy is on a par with that of some of the leading vaccines now in use. There was good efficacy in older adults, who are at highest risk for death, but little diversity, since most participants were white males.

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Coronavirus variants: what you need to know – video explainer

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Last year, Covid-19 spread around the world, sending millions of people into lockdown as health services struggled to cope. The surge in new variants of the virus  has prompted fresh questions and concerns. The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains what we now know about the Covid-19 variants and what they could mean for the future of the pandemic

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High infection rate makes effort to contain Covid variants even more vital

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Analysis: scramble to stop spread of South African variant makes sense but may already be too late

When the coronavirus pandemic was in its infancy, one of the common silver linings scientists mentioned was the virus’s slow rate of mutation. It raised the hope that the virus lacked the agility to rapidly evolve around human immunity – whether from previous infection or vaccine. The virus is certainly slow to mutate by some standards. Sars-CoV-2 typically acquires two single letter changes in its genetic code a month, about half the rate seen in influenza.

So why are so many new variants emerging? At the heart of the problem is the fact the global pandemic is raging. Every new case is a chance for mutations to arise, spread and build up. In the simple arithmetic of evolution, when a virus mutates and gains an advantage it can rise above the others.

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