Category Archives: Vaccines and immunisation

Totnes Covid concerns reflect UK-wide rise in conspiracy theories

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Suspicion in Devon town of face masks and 5G means take-up of vaccine may face resistance

Like many people living in or around Totnes in Devon, David, who is in his 70s, has his own theories about coronavirus and its origins. Sitting in the armchair of his house, he says the pandemic is a secret plot to impose a totalitarian world government and a nefarious effort to crush freedom. He scrolls through Facebook, which he recently signed up to, to show many with similar beliefs.

David came to many of these ideas recently. When the pandemic hit, he started looking for answers. “I’m friends with a few people who are active in researching what is going on. I quickly made contact with others putting posts on the internet.”

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6 key questions about the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine

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There are grounds for optimism but also several unknowns around this coronavirus vaccine

Hopes that the end of the coronavirus pandemic has become nearer have soared after the news that a coronavirus vaccine was found to be 90% effective in global trials.

Although there is definite reason to be optimistic, experts have cautioned that the data from the trials conducted by Pfizer and BioNTech are not final, and there remain plenty of unknowns.

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‘Very early days’: Johnson says UK cannot yet rely on Covid vaccine – video

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Boris Johnson has welcomed the promising news about the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine and said the UK was at 'the front of the pack' if and when it becomes available. At a Downing Street briefing, however, the prime minister also cautioned that it was 'very early days'. He said the vaccine still needed to be peer reviewed and clear any potential safety hurdles. 'We cannot rely on this news as a solution,' he said. 'The biggest mistake we could make now would be to slacken our resolve at a critical moment'

UK rollout of Covid vaccine could start before Christmas

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Hopes rise for end of pandemic as Pfizer says vaccine is 90% effective

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Global stocks surge and experts optimistic as Covid vaccine exceeds expectations

Hopes are soaring that a Covid vaccine is within reach, following news that an interim analysis has shown Pfizer/BioNTech’s candidate was 90% effective in protecting people from transmission of the virus in global trials.

The vaccine performed much better than most experts had hoped for, according to the companies’ analysis, and brings into view a potential end to a pandemic that has killed more than a million people, battered economies and upended daily life worldwide.

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Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine announcement is cause for cautious celebration

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Interim trial results are encouraging as scientists welcome news

It is not yet the end of the pandemic, but the announcement by Pfizer/BioNTech that their vaccine has been 90% successful in the vital large-scale trials has got even the soberest of scientists excited.

These are interim results and the trial will continue into December to collect more data. The two companies – a tiny German biotech with the big idea and the giant pharma company Pfizer with the means to develop it – have not yet published their detailed data, so it is all on trust. And yet, nobody is suggesting the results have been over-egged. It looks as though the vaccine not only works, but works better than anyone hoped.

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Future market for Covid vaccines ‘could be worth more than $10bn a year’

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Analysts estimate revenue generated, assuming an annual jab at an average price of $20

The future market for Covid-19 vaccines could be worth more than $10bn (£7.6bn) in annual revenues for pharmaceutical companies, according to industry experts, even though some drugmakers have pledged to provide their vaccines on a not-for-profit basis during this pandemic.

The calculations by analysts at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse assume people will need to be vaccinated every year, similar to the traditional flu jab, with an average price of $20 for a Covid-19 vaccine dose. Prices range from $3 a dose to $37.

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Australia news live: Victoria and NSW report no new Covid cases as Queensland pushed to open border

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Border restrictions continue to be eased as Australian politicians respond to US election result. Follow latest updates

The best doughnut, is a jam doughnut, followed closely by cinnamon.

Both fresh, of course.

Related: How doughnuts became Australia's symbol of Covid hope

News Hub reports New Zealand’s US ambassador has commented on the election. As government employees, ambassadors are prevented from indicating political views (despite being political appointments) but it looks like Scott Brown, for one, is feeling confident enough in the result to be a little honest.

From News Hub’s report:

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T-cell Covid immunity ‘present in adults six months after first infection’

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Study suggests white blood cell levels higher in people who had symptoms

Cellular (T-cell) immunity against the virus that causes Covid-19 is likely to be present within most adults six months after primary infection, with levels considerably higher in patients with symptoms, a study suggests.

The data offers another piece of the puzzle that could be key to understanding whether previous Sars-CoV-2 infections – the virus behind Covid-19 – can prevent reinfection, and if so, for how long.

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‘It’s possible’: the race to approve a Covid vaccine by Christmas

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At least three companies close to revealing results of phase three trials, but to be approved for use safety has to be ensured

The race for a Covid vaccine is reaching a crucial stage, with the glimmer of a possibility that one of the leading contenders will be approved by Christmas.

In an interview with the Guardian, Kate Bingham, who heads the UK’s vaccine taskforce, said the UK was in “a very good place”.

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Survey uncovers widespread belief in ‘dangerous’ Covid conspiracy theories

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False claims that pandemic is a hoax or was started deliberately are attracting adherents around world

Significant numbers of people around the world believe Covid-19 was created deliberately, has killed far fewer people than reported, or is a hoax and does not actually exist, according to a global survey.

Along with belief in other conspiracy theories – such as that the world is run by a secret cabal – the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, a survey of about 26,000 people in 25 countries designed in collaboration with the Guardian, found widespread and concerning scepticism about vaccine safety.

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Australian production of non-protein Covid-19 vaccine may take an extra year, minister says

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Industry minister says, depending on type of vaccine approved, ‘significant work’ may be required before production

It could take up to a year for Australian biotech company CSL to develop the capability to make a Covid-19 vaccine if a non-protein-based version proves safe and effective, the country’s industry minister has said.

Karen Andrews said CSL would be able to immediately start making a protein-based vaccine, but “significant work” would be required if it was another type based on mRNA, or messenger ribonucleic acid.

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At 75, I’ve volunteered for a Covid vaccine trial. It could set people free

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Some of my friends think I’m mad but we need to know people my age can go out safely again

There’s a 50% chance that this week I was injected with a vaccine designed to protect me from Covid-19. If not, I got the saltwater placebo instead. I won’t know until the study ends in 13 months, which is a shame. It would be nice to walk the streets without looking balefully around me at young people not wearing masks and thinking: I’m 75, this virus kills people my age.

It killed my chum Mike Pentelow, who was having a lot of fun in his retirement, writing books with titles such as A Pub Crawl Through History, and Mike was a year younger than me. Perhaps he’s the reason I volunteered to be a guinea pig for one of the companies working on a vaccine.

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Doctors in South Korea call for flu vaccinations to be paused after 25 deaths

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Authorities say programme will continue after finding no direct links between the deaths and the vaccines

South Korean officials refused on Thursday to suspend a seasonal influenza inoculation effort, despite growing calls for a halt, including an appeal from a key group of doctors, after the deaths of at least 25 of those vaccinated. Health authorities said they found no direct links between the deaths and the vaccines.

At least 22 of the dead, including a 17-year-old boy, were part of a campaign to inoculate 19 million teenagers and senior citizens for free, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

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Are we near to having a vaccine for Covid-19?

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Even a once bullish PM is now not so optimistic but there are promising signs of a vaccine on the horizon

In March, Boris Johnson said we would turn the tide in 12 weeks and “send the coronavirus packing” and by May ministers were boasting of having a vaccine by September. Last week the prime minister sounded far less confident, telling MPs that there was still no vaccine for SARS, 18 years after it emerged. A vaccine may not be far away though.

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Digital ‘health passport’ trials under way to aid reopening of borders

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CommonPass aims to create common standard proving a traveller is Covid-free or vaccinated

A new digital “health passport” is to be piloted by a small number of passengers flying from the UK to the US for the first time next week under plans for a global framework for Covid-safe air travel.

The CommonPass system, backed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), is designed to create a common international standard for passengers to demonstrate they do not have coronavirus.

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Coronavirus: what has changed about what we know? – video explainer

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Covid-19 has spread around the world, sending millions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope. From symptoms and long Covid to vaccines and treatments, the Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains what we now know about the virus that we did not at the beginning of the crisis

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Johnson & Johnson pauses Covid vaccine trial over participant’s ‘unexplained illness’

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Company is unclear about whether patient was receiving vaccine or placebo in 60,000-patient study

Johnson & Johnson has paused its Covid-19 vaccine trial due to an “unexplained illness” in a participant, the company confirmed.

The pharmaceutical giant was unclear if the patient was administered a placebo or the experimental vaccine, and it’s not remarkable for studies as large as the one Johnson & Johnson are conducting – involving 60,000 patients – to be temporarily paused.

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The race for a Covid vaccine: inside the Australian lab working round the clock to produce 100m doses

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The Guardian is given a unique insight into the operations of CSL, which is making vaccines that could help end the crisis

Some call it the “happy soup”.

Take a dash of modified Covid-19 protein DNA, mix it with cells from a Chinese hamster’s ovary, and place the combination in two state-of-the-art 2,000L bioreactors in a sprawling scientific facility on Melbourne’s northern fringes.

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US won’t rely on UK for Covid vaccine safety tests, says Nancy Pelosi

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House speaker says UK system is not on a par with US’s ‘very stringent rules’ about vaccines

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has taken aim at the British vaccine testing safety regime, warning that UK approval of a vaccine would not automatically mean it was safe according to the US’s own procedures.

Amid a race to produce an effective vaccine against Covid-19 that meets broad international acceptance for safety, Pelosi’s comments appear partly motivated by concern that any quick and unilateral British approval of a vaccine might be embraced by Donald Trump for political gain, perhaps even before the 3 November election.

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Covid-19 vaccine alone won’t defeat spread of virus, report warns

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Issues over production, efficacy and public trust mean restrictions may be needed for some time

A successful vaccine for Covid-19 will not conquer the spread of the virus alone, with restrictions on daily life likely to continue for some time, a team of experts have said.

Hundreds of teams of researchers around the world are working to produce a vaccine against the coronavirus, with 11 currently in phase three human trials. The UK government has reserved access to six potential vaccines and has raised hopes that a vaccine could be on the cards by spring next year.

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