outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

yeah, trials usually get halted for a few days while they investigate. and usually it's not a big news item (it happened on Pfizer once).

governments actually suspending is problematic because it sends a message to people that it's not safe and you can't unring that bell. and with government agencies actually saying the vaccine should still be used....i'm baffled as to why more governments are joining on this other than it just appearing to rain shit on AstraZeneca since Phase 3 began

so what exactly IS driving the panic, then? did someone in the Royal families in several countries get clots?

― Red Nerussi (Neanderthal), Monday, March 15, 2021 3:08 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

best guess it total lack of trust in the AZ vacccine caused by repeated AZ fuckups, exacerbated by general vacine skepticism in many of these countries, followed by political pressure contagion effect.

You jest, Tom, but I can't help but wonder whether (mainly) continental European countries crippled by the anti-vaxx plague aren't practicing pre-emptive damage control with a sprinkling of cheap counter-Brexit nationalism on top. I mostly suspect France of this, maybe Germany as well (and Italy is Five Star Movement land).

xps

i've been to the doctors in germany and they're nuts so fair enough. ireland suspending it kind of surprising to me.

Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency is singing a different tune: 'the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing COVID-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects.'

From: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/emas-safety-committee-continues-investigation-covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca-thromboembolic-events

ireland suspending it kind of surprising to me.

Yeah, this is the one I expected the least. Likewise Norway, which kickstarted this whole wave of skepticism if memory serves.

it's kind of amazing how all these vaccines show up in record time at much higher efficacy than expected and then we find novel ways to not dispense them.

though fortunately there are other vaccines still being utilized.

Stuff like this and consciously denying vaccine access to countries in the global south just make me think, do you want this pandemic to ever end or nah

I mean, as well as being pure evil in the latter case

As an aside, I fucking hate how France has such an amazing healthcare system – especially compared to Quebec – yet anti-medical rhetoric has gained so much ground there over the past few decades that their level of self-pwning is now off the charts. People who are able to distinguish between Big Pharma (a murderous international conglomerate in all but name) and Actual Medicine That Saves Lives are going extinct.

The leitmotiv being 'it's not natural!' Yeah, unlike, I dunno, hemlock.

i've been to the doctors in germany and they're nuts so fair enough. ireland suspending it kind of surprising to me.

The HSE takes guidance about vaccines from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC).

On Saturday, 13 March 2021, NIAC got a new safety alert from the Norwegian Medicines Agency. The alert was about 4 new reports of serious, rare thromboembolic events (blood clotting), including some complicated by thrombocytopoenia (low blood platelet count) in younger adults after vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

It has not been concluded that there is any link between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and these cases. As a precaution, NIAC has recommended we temporarily pause use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

When to talk to your GP

Talk to your GP or GP out-of-hours if you:

feel increasingly unwell more than 3 days after your vaccination
notice blue spots on your skin
have a non blanching skin rash – one that does not disappear when you put pressure on it

It has not been concluded that there is any link between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and these cases. As a precaution, NIAC has recommended we temporarily pause use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

this is a great advert for why not to use the passive in public health guidance.

You jest, Tom, but I can't help but wonder whether (mainly) continental European countries crippled by the anti-vaxx plague aren't practicing pre-emptive damage control with a sprinkling of cheap counter-Brexit nationalism on top. I mostly suspect France of this, maybe Germany as well (and Italy is Five Star Movement land).

Hey, it was the Irish that kicked all this off I think? And they love the Brits.

(xp) Oops just read your subsequent post.

xp idk, if you can’t use the passive voice for advice passed down from a big transnational medicines agency and enacted by a panel of independent experts, when can you

ugh i want to go on german tv and stick myself with six doses of astra zeneca vaccine to make a point, this is really nuts

This is a good summary afaict

Smart, detailed rundown on what's happening with AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine and why it matters. Via @matthewherper https://t.co/oXxIYrfHOZ

— Jason Ukman (@JasonUkman) March 15, 2021

Wonder if US anti-vaxxers will have a field day with this (despite US not using this vaccine), or if Americans' lack of awareness that other countries exist will save us for once.

real life is irrelevant for them, it doesn't matter what actually happens or what anything means

Skydad's coming down soon enough to save them.

Lots of one-year-on pieces going about but this one is a cut above.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/how-the-west-lost-covid-19.html

yeah that was very good

holy hell, look at the shrinkage in hospitalizations and deaths in the elder populations in the US in the last two months:

https://i.ibb.co/XLJ2S0W/scrnli-3-15-2021-10-29-05-PM.png

https://i.ibb.co/JH1dF0w/scrnli-3-15-2021-10-30-00-PM.png

https://i.ibb.co/YbqngDr/COVID-19-NET-Image.png

The Moderna trial for children from 6 months to under 12 has been registered. It's phase 2/3, testing 3 different dose levels, for 750 participants: https://t.co/YaszjPCAgo

— Hilda Bastian, PhD (@hildabast) March 15, 2021

Put it in my veins (no, literally, please).

it's intramuscular not intravenous!!

lol

Lol, this is why I went to law school.

BREAKING: European Medicines Agency says Astrazeneca is "is a safe and efficient vaccine...not associated with increased risk of blood clots."

— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) March 18, 2021

cool, but now millions of people think it's unsafe and won't use it, yay

It's all a subterfuge to pull the rug from under the anti-vaxxers, you see. A Napoleon-tier strategy.

Btw any news regarding AZ's effectiveness for people over 65?

it causes over-65s to enjoy Dane Cook

NEW: Biden admin. is working to finalize plans to send roughly 2.5M doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Mexico and 1.5M doses to Canada, White House says. https://t.co/k12xwhsxXW

— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) March 18, 2021

Apparently it's a 'loan'.

how do you give back a vaccine

Hey! It worked for FDR as "lend-lease" for sending war materials to UK in 1940.

Btw any news regarding AZ's effectiveness for people over 65?

nice!

Sorry, I meant: have there been any additional studies on this? That those three ok'd it is excellent news, of course.

Public Health England had a preprint based on real world data

According to a pre-print study from PHE, which involved more than 7.5 million people aged 70 and over in England:

Infections in the over 70s fall from around three weeks after one dose of both vaccines.

Protection against symptomatic COVID in those over 70, four weeks after the first jab, ranged between 57-61% for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 60-73% for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
The vaccines are more than 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations in over 80s around three to four weeks after one dose.

As well as the protection against symptomatic disease, over 80s who had received a Pfizer jab had an additional 43% lower risk of emergency hospitalisation and an additional 51% lower risk of death

Over 80s who had been given the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were found to have a 37% lower risk of emergency hospital admission, but there is insufficient follow-up data to assess its impact on death

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for.

and that's just after the first dose? not bad

ass grass or vax nobody bides for free

Heh, I’ve been thinking of making that joke but was holding back for some reason.

How are you feeling post-covid btw? I suppose it's been several weeks now.

Fine, mostly. I am okay with my attenuated sense of smell, but my daughter is more irritated by hers, says it messes with her sense of taste. Also went to the dentist today for the first time since the pandemic but that is for another thread I think.

Ah, anosmia sounds immensely irritating indeed. My understanding is that it usually sorts itself out after a (long) while.

Good news

The majority of people who have had COVID-19 are protected from getting it again for at least six months, a study showed, but older people are more prone to reinfection than younger people https://t.co/HdZoDqZlVP

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 18, 2021