Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

England health officials defend contingency plan to mix Covid vaccines

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PHE says it is reasonable to mix the two approved vaccines in exceptional circumstances

Officials have defended England’s vaccine regimen after details of a contingency plan to mix the two approved jabs in a small number of cases emerged.

Public Health England’s Covid “green book” recommends that “it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule” if the same vaccine used for the first dose is not available. But it adds: “There is no evidence on the interchangeability of the Covid-19 vaccines although studies are under way.”

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What difference will Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine make in UK?

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We look at how the introduction of a new vaccine in the fight against Covid will work

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is central to the government’s plans for ending social distancing in the UK and returning to some sort of normality. It has invested in seven different vaccines, but the biggest order is for 100m doses of the AstraZeneca jab, most of which will be manufactured in the UK. While the prime minister was jubilant that the UK was first in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, he is now able to claim a British triumph. More to the point is the ease of use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Unlike Pfizer’s, it does not have to be kept in the long term at -70C. Pfizer’s vaccine can be stored in a fridge for five days, but AstraZeneca’s can be kept for months at fridge temperature, which is 2-8C and will be easy to take to care homes to administer to residents, the first priority group for vaccination.

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BioNTech criticises EU failure to order enough Covid vaccine

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Firm races to fill potential gap left by bloc’s gamble on several vaccines being approved

BioNtech has criticised the EU’s failure to order more doses of its coronavirus vaccine, saying it is now racing with its US partner, Pfizer, to boost production amid fears of a European “gap” left by the lack of other approved vaccines.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved by the bloc late last month, after being accepted by the UK, Canada and the US. They and other countries have also since approved the Moderna or Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, leaving the EU trailing behind.

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World leaders urged to make Covid vaccine available to millions of refugees

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Global humanitarian figures and NGOs call for rollout to take in all people for the global public good

Global humanitarian figures and NGOs have urged world leaders to urgently make Covid-19 vaccinations available to millions of refugees and others displaced by war, as the pandemic continues to overwhelm some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.

The impact of the contagion has sharply intensified across the Middle East in recent weeks, matching soaring global numbers. However, it has been further amplified by drastically underresourced medical responses that cannot cope with the numbers of dying or seriously ill.

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Questions hang over UK’s rollout of Oxford/AstraZeneca jab

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Analysis: regulator surprises by approving 12-week gap between first and second shots of vaccine as well as Pfizer/BioNTech shot

It’s a pragmatic solution to an incredibly urgent problem – how to immunise very large numbers of people at risk from a rampaging variant of Covid-19 in the shortest possible time. The answer that government advisers have come up with is to give them all – more than 20 million of them – a single shot of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine so that they have some protection and postpone the second dose to three months afterwards, when hopefully there will be plenty of vaccine available for boosters.

Related: How well does the Oxford vaccine work? What we know so far

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‘Vaccine diplomacy’ sees Egypt roll out Chinese coronavirus jab

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A lack of trial data transparency from China has raised concerns, but the country is confidently pushing ahead

When Egypt’s health ministry sent out an invitation to doctors to be vaccinated against Covid-19, they neglected to make clear it was a clinical trial.

Instead, it assured them that two Covid-19 vaccines developed by China’s National Biotec Group, part of a state-owned conglomerate known as Sinopharm, had no side-effects and that “the minister of health was vaccinated today, and orders were issued to vaccinate all doctors and workers who wish to be vaccinated”.

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‘That was easy’: Kamala Harris receives Covid-19 vaccine – video

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The US vice-president-elect received her first injected dose of the coronavirus vaccine live on television, one week after Joe Biden received his. Describing the process as 'relatively painless', Harris urged all Americans to get vaccinated. 'It's about saving your life, the life of your family members, and the life of your community,' she said

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Biden criticizes Trump’s Covid vaccine rollout as Harris gets inoculation

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At a coronavirus briefing, the president-elect warned distribution ‘is falling far behind’ and vowed to ramp up vaccination efforts

Joe Biden has lambasted the Trump administration’s vaccine rollout, warning that distribution “is falling behind, far behind”, hours after Kamala Harris received her first dose of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine live on television as part of officials’ ongoing efforts to show the public that the vaccinations are safe.

“A few weeks ago the Trump administration suggested that 20 million Americans could be vaccinated by the end of December,” Biden said, at a Covid-19 briefing in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday. “With only a few days left in December, we have only vaccinated a few million so far.”

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Global report: India finds six cases of new UK variant; South Africa bans alcohol sales

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Germany says infectious variant has been present since November; Spain sets up Covid vaccine register

India has found six cases of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus in people arriving from Britain, while South Africa reimposed a ban on alcohol sales and ordered the closure of all bars as it battles a resurgence of the virus, including another new variant.

All six of the infected people in India are in isolation and their fellow travellers are being traced, the health ministry said.

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Covid vaccine uptake high despite concerns over hesitancy

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Experts fear misinformation and development worries could undermine efforts to control pandemic

Uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine has been high among those offered it, doctors say, despite fears that vaccine hesitancy could undermine efforts to control the pandemic.

Experts have feared mass uptake of the jab could be jeopardised by widespread misinformation, concerns among the public about the speed at which the vaccine has been developed and approved, and lack of trust in vaccines and the pharmaceutical companies and governments calling for it.

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Coronavirus live news: British tourists flee Swiss ski resort quarantine; inoculation in EU begins

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Latest updates: first vaccine doses administered across Europe; Germany rollout delayed after potential irregularities in cooling of Pfizer shot

Dr Anthony Fauci, the head of the US coronavirus taskforce said that he believes the Covid-19 variant detected in the UK must be taken “very seriously” but is not likely to cause more serious illness or be resistant to vaccines.

He said: “Does it make someone more ill? Is it [a] more serious virus in the sense of virulence? And the answer is, it doesn’t appear to be that way.”

The UK’s coronavirus vaccination programme will resume on Monday, after a pause on Christmas Day and the weekend.

The latest figures show that a total of 70,572 people in the UK have died from Covid-19. The number is likely to rise further on Tuesday, as authorities in both Scotland and Northern Ireland have not released data over the festive period.

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‘Let’s get vaccinated’: Europe rolls out Covid-19 vaccine – video report

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European nations launched a massive vaccination drive on Sunday, with pensioners and medics lining up to take the first shots to see off the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 1.7 million lives worldwide. With surveys pointing to high levels of hesitancy about the vaccine in countries from France to Poland, leaders of the EU27 are promoting it as the best chance of getting back to something like normal life in 2021

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Global report: AstraZeneca chief believes Covid vaccine will work on variant strain

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Pascal Soirot says firm has ‘winning formula’ to improve Oxford jab’s efficacy, as countries across Europe roll out vaccination programs

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The head of the firm behind the Oxford Covid vaccine has said researchers believe the jab will be effective against the variant strain of the virus that was first found in the UK.

AstraZeneca chief executive, Pascal Soriot, told the Sunday Times more tests were needed to be sure, but hailed the discovery of what he called a “winning formula” to improve the vaccine’s efficacy.

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Ten reasons why we got Covid-19 vaccines so quickly without ‘cutting corners’ | Adam Finn

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The speedy rollout is thanks to a combination of foresight, hard work and lucky breaks

The speed at which effective Covid-19 vaccines have come through to authorisation has caused surprise. Compared with previous vaccines, the process has been very fast and so, naturally, people are asking how can it have happened without some kind of compromise on standards and care. Explaining it all as simply a result of the wonders of the latest scientific advances seems vague. So how has it actually come about? In reality, there are at least 10 reasons: some are about good planning, some good science and some just good luck.

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More data needed before giving just one vaccine dose, says Covid adviser

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Tony Blair and others make argument for giving more people a single jab rather than two

A senior scientific adviser has said more data is needed before the government can adopt a proposal to give as many people as possible a single dose of a Covid vaccine rather than preserving stocks so there is enough for a second jab.

The former prime minister Tony Blair and Prof David Salisbury, a former director of immunisation at the Department of Health, backed the idea on Wednesday, saying second shots should be given only when more stock is available.

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NHS leaders raise concerns over pace of Covid vaccine rollout

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Exclusive: more than half of hospital trusts in England yet to receive supplies as variant spreads

NHS leaders have raised concerns about the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, with more than half of hospital trusts and two-thirds of GPs yet to receive supplies amid growing alarm over the new fast-spreading variant.

Dr Richard Vautrey, the chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, urged the government to speed up delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in order to save lives. Experts also demanded greater transparency from ministers on how many doses are available.

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Dr Fauci feels ‘extreme confidence’ in Covid vaccine as he gets jab – video

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Dr Anthony Fauci was injected with his first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine and he said he hoped it would encourage millions of other Americans to do the same.

The top US infectious diseases expert said he felt 'extreme confidence of the safety and efficacy of this vaccine'

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Inside Oxford’s coronavirus vaccine development

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From a small discovery to producing at scale, photojournalist David Levene documents the groundbreaking work of the scientists of Oxford University during the development of a vaccine which is now poised for approval by medicines regulators

From the moment the coronavirus spilled out of China and spread around the world, the great hope for the return of normal life lay with safe and effective vaccines. While wearing masks and washing hands helped to reduce the flood of infections, they would never be enough to hold back the tide. Social distancing – a phrase that does nothing to convey the hardship of the act – suppresses the virus, no doubt. But what kind of life is a life lived apart?

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Moderna vaccine shipments begin as US reels under Covid surge

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Workers began processing shipments of the second US Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday, but across the country the situation remained severe.

Related: Two authorized vaccines – here's what you need to know.

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Belgian minister tweets EU’s Covid vaccine price list to anger of manufacturers

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Pharmaceutical companies complain of breach of confidentiality after amount EU has agreed to pay for leading vaccines goes public

A Belgian minister has blown the lid off a sensitive and commercial secret – the price that the EU has agreed to pay for the leading Covid vaccines.

Belgium’s budget state secretary, Eva De Bleeker, posted the price list on Twitter, with the amounts of each vaccine that her country intends to buy from the EU. The tweet was quickly deleted, but not soon enough to prevent interested parties taking screenshots, which have now made it public knowledge.

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