Grey Havoc
ACCESS: USAP
- Joined
- 9 October 2009
- Messages
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Many reports cited an interview the Chancellor gave with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
In the interview, Merkel said: "I am 66 years old and I do not belong to the group recommended for Astra-Zeneca".
The German government states that only those people "in the top priority group who are aged between 18 and 64" can be given the AstraZeneca vaccine.
"This is a safe and highly effective vaccine, one of three currently approved for use in the European Union," the Federal Government adds on their website.
"All the authorities tell us that this vaccine can be trusted," said Merkel, who is two years older than the upper recommended threshold.
"As long as vaccines are as scarce as they are now, you can't choose what to vaccinate with," the Chancellor added to FAZ.
UK news organisations, therefore, took her quotes out of context to sound like she did not want the jab.
Germany, alongside other European Union member states, has been criticised for its perceived slowness in rolling out coronavirus vaccines to citizens.
But at a crucial moment for public health authorities across Europe, misleading headlines can trigger vaccine hesitancy and fuel anti-vax narratives.
FAZ: Lauert da nicht das nächste Problem? Es sind bisher nur etwa zwei Drittel der gelieferten Impfdosen auch verimpft worden. Haben wir das Organisieren verlernt?
Merkel: Nein. Da gibt es zwei Gründe: Vom Biontech-Impfstoff werden viele Dosen für die zweite Impfung zurückgelegt. Außerdem gibt es derzeit bei dem AstraZeneca-Impfstoff ein Akzeptanzproblem.
FAZ: Verstehen Sie Leute, die sich nicht mit diesem Mittel impfen lassen wollen?
Merkel: AstraZeneca ist ein zuverlässiger Impfstoff, wirkungsvoll und sicher, der durch die Europäische Medizinagentur zugelassen und in Deutschland bis zum Alter von unter 65 Jahren empfohlen ist. Alle Autoritäten sagen uns, dass man diesem Impfstoff vertrauen kann. So lange die Impfstoffe so knapp sind wie zurzeit, kann man sich nicht aussuchen, womit man geimpft werden will.
FAZ: Sollten Sie angesichts dieses Akzeptanzproblems nicht mit gutem Beispiel vorangehen und sich impfen lassen?
Merkel: Ich bin 66 Jahre alt und gehöre nicht zu der für AstraZeneca empfohlenen Gruppe.
Antibody tests which showed who had been infected in the past suggested that primary school pupils were about half as likely to have had the virus as teachers, while secondary school students were about two-thirds as likely, he said.
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2AU11DAustria and Denmark would work with Israel on vaccine production against mutations of the coronavirus and jointly research treatment options in an alliance called the First Movers Group.
Late Wednesday, Bharat Biotech released interim data showing its vaccine prevents COVID-19 in 81% of patients who receive two doses. The phase 3 clinical trial involved 25,800 subjects, making it the largest ever in India, the company said.
Trials are still ongoing, and further data is needed for a "final analysis," it said. But Bharat Biotech's chairman said this interim data "demonstrates high clinical efficacy."
The EU will urge the US to allow the export of millions of doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Europe, it has emerged.
The European Union also wants Washington to allow the free flow of vaccine ingredients for production, according to the Financial Times.
"We trust that we can work together with the U.S. to ensure that vaccines produced or bottled in the U.S. for the fulfilment of vaccine producers' contractual obligations with the EU will be fully honoured,” the European Commission told the newspaper.
This came after the commission and Italy blocked the shipment of AstraZeneca jabs to Australia as it tried to boost its vaccine rollout which has been behind that of nations like the UK.
This follows months of issues around the EU and the Oxford vaccine, which saw the jab limited to under-65s by several European countries such as Germany, a move which it reversed this month.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthca...pharma-company-to-produce-russian-sputnik?ampAdienne Pharma & Biotech announced a deal with Russia's sovereign wealth fund, the RDIF, to begin production near Milan. The company aims to have several million doses manufactured by the end of 2021, pending Italian regulatory approval.
"Adienne will become our first production in Europe," said RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev, according to Bloomberg. "Launch of production in Italy will help meet the rising demand for Sputnik V and protect many people not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world as the vaccine could later be exported."
Some experts speculate that the pandemic coronavirus will one day cause nothing more than a common cold, mostly in children, where it will be an indistinguishable drip in the steady stream of snotty kid germs. Such is the reality for four other coronaviruses that have long stalked school yards and commonly circulate among us every cold and flu season, to little noticeable effect.
But that sanguine—if not slightly slimier—future is shaky. And the road to get there will almost certainly be rocky. For the pandemic coronavirus to turn from terror to trifle, we have to build up high levels of immunity against it. At the population level, this will be difficult—even with vaccines. And with the uncertainty of how we’ll pull it off, some experts are cautioning that we should prepare for the possibility that the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, will stick with us for the near future, possibly becoming a seasonal surge during the winter months when we’re largely indoors.
Murray and Piot put some back-of-the-envelope numbers to this scenario, trying to account for the drop in efficacy against symptomatic disease from a variant. They come to the rough estimate that “f the B.1.351 variant becomes dominant, a simple calculation suggests that the aggregate effectiveness of vaccines for preventing B.1.351 transmission in the US could be only 50 percent.” The estimate drops to 37.5 percent when they fold in the estimate of people who will refuse vaccination.
All this means that there’s a real possibility that we could see surges in COVID-19 for the near future, especially if variant-specific vaccines are eventually needed. Piot and Murray suggest these surges could be seasonal, corresponding to when we normally see surges in common coronaviruses. This also aligns with winter months, when we spend more time indoors in less ventilated spaces together, which all help SARS-CoV-2 spread.
The two experts lay out five strategies to prepare for this unpleasant possibility: 1) Help intensify global vaccination to squash the emergence of variants; 2) Step up monitoring for variants; 3) Ready hospitals for winter surges; 4) Work to reduce transmission in the off-season; and 5) Prepare high-risk individuals for winter mitigation efforts, such as seasonal physical distancing.
It’s too early to know for sure if seasonal COVID-19 lies ahead. There’s still a lot of uncertainty, Murray and Piot note. But it’s a real possibility, and we should prepare now. “If new variants continue to appear, winter surges may become the norm,” they write. “This prospect requires advance planning and consideration of a range of strategies to mitigate the consequences for communities and health systems.”