Thursday, April 8, 2021

Astra-Zeneca Vaccine: More countries choose to use it in those for whom it does not work, others stop it altogether/ NY Times

As I explained in my "Flip-Flop" post, it seems that a surprising number of government authorities remain desperate to administer the A-Z vaccine, even to the older age group in which it may be only 8% efficacious or "quasi-ineffective." Why?  Why why why???

From the NY Times:

The Philippines said that it would temporarily stop administering the vaccine to people age 60 and under...

Late Wednesday, Belgium said that it would temporarily halt use of the vaccine in people under 56, and that younger people will be offered alternative vaccines — measures that the country’s health ministry said would be reviewed in four weeks. Others, including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark and Norway, have suspended use of the vaccine altogether until more information about the clotting risk is available.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia said at a news conference late Thursday that the country had changed its guidance on the AstraZeneca vaccine for younger people out of an abundance of caution. It now recommends that adults under 50 be given an alternative vaccine...

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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 8, 2021 at 10:43 AM

    Shouldn't we be concerned about the efficacy of the other adenovirus vaccine (J&J)?

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  2. YvetteApril 8, 2021 at 1:30 PM

    And they've changed the name of the vaccine to Vaxzevria.

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  3. Dr Chris KingApril 8, 2021 at 4:06 PM

    If the spike protein is the culprit, then ANY of the currently available COVID vaccines, including the two mRNA products (Pfizer, Moderna) and the other viral vector/chimera vaccine (J&J) should cause the same problems as the AstraZeneca one. Why is only the AZ vaccine being targeted?

    I smell a rat...

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  4. Meryl Nass, M.D.April 9, 2021 at 2:34 PM

    I did mention that JandJ's vaccine had increased thromboemboli in the clinical trial and I forgot to mention 3-4 arterial clots in subjects in the trial, with none in the placebo group. These data were presented to FDA on February 26 at the VRBPAC meeting, which should still be online, at 3 hrs 30 minutes.

    The Letter by Whelan and the article by Chinese doctors at the bottom of my Flip-Flop post suggest that any vaccine leading to production of Spike protein might increase clotting.

    Europe has received practically no JandJ vaccine, and the US has received no A-Z vaccine. The pharmacovigilance in this case seems to be better in Europe. It is currently hopeless in the US.

    Just discovered that at that VRBPAC mtg 2/26, the CDC person said CDC believed there had been over 80 million Covid cases in the US, and that 60% immunity would achieve herd immunity. We may be very close.

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  5. Dr Chris KingApril 9, 2021 at 5:05 PM

    Thanks for that, Dr Nass, and sorry if my earlier comment was unclear. The various governing bodies and the global media seem to be targeting AZ with the blood clot "news," not this blog. And I wonder why, because I suspect that all of the spike-protein vaccines are likely to carry the same risk. Is it simply that more doses of AZ have been given to date? Surely there have been enough Pfizer doses given to reveal a similar trend by now?

    This is personal for me, because while I won't be getting vaccinated myself, my brother (an ER doc in what was a "hotspot" hospital in Tasmania) has already had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I'm worried what might happen when he has the second. He's not in the best of health. (Yes, I know... "physician, heal thyself" and all that...)

    Thanks for staying on top of this troubling aspect of mass vaccination. I worry that more bad news is to come.

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  6. Meryl Nass, M.D.April 9, 2021 at 6:40 PM

    Chris, this may help--extensive AE data from Europe

    https://vaccineimpact.com/2021/5365-dead-238949-injuries-european-database-of-adverse-drug-reactions-for-covid-19-vaccines/

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  7. Dr Chris KingApril 9, 2021 at 7:27 PM

    Thanks! That's really helpful (not to mention scary!). It would be good to know approximately how many doses of each product were given in relation to those stats, as the X axes have quite different scales among the three products plotted.

    Still, that page makes it clear that all four of the COVID vaccines currently in widespread or increasing use around the world have a similar range of adverse effects.

    Thanks again.

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