So, coronavirus...

[tc27]

Don't forget, 12 weeks between jabs. It's going to be Oct at earliest. My Dad's first jab was 6th Feb so will be interesting to see when he's called for his second. My text from my Doc's telling people to stop calling them said 10-11 weeks but that's before India went a bit pear shaped. We both had AZ.

Should be called in sometime this month - reading the smoke signals it looks like they have being keeping stocks back to meet second jab requirements.

I already have by appointment for jab no 2 in June.

[tabascoboy]

Got my 2nd Pfizer shot yesterday, so far no side effects, barely a shoulder hake but sometimes it starts a day later.

15 millions J&J doses in the trash.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsand ... c2bac94e77

Sounds fishy

sorry

[tc27]

Had the AZ jab today at a village hall in rural Sussex - I am only 38 but my mother lives on our annex and is clinically vulnerable so was asked to get it.

No side affects so far - at risk of groan-gloating I did a big weight session on Monday and my arms are still wrecked so hard to tell.

Mild flu like symptoms all day today but arm seems to be ok.

[Oxbow]

Mild aches and feeling weak during the night for me, a bit stiff this morning, that's about it. My arm hurts though, and sleep wasn't great because that's the side I usually sleep on.

[Margin__Walker]

Mild aches and feeling weak during the night for me, a bit stiff this morning, that's about it. My arm hurts though, and sleep wasn't great because that's the side I usually sleep on.

Nothing to be ashamed of

[Oxbow]

A positive side effect that one.

[Raggs]

Got a call from my mum saying they had a dribble left of vaccine that'd go to waste and to get there in 20 minutes. 10 minutes later and I've been stabbed! Wonderful.

[Sandstorm]

Got a call from my mum saying they had a dribble left of vaccine that'd go to waste and to get there in 20 minutes. 10 minutes later and I've been stabbed! Wonderful.

Styling

[Ymx]

No rule ones thanks

[Saint]

647K doses delivered yesterday, 405K of which were 2nd doses. Still cracking on at nearly 4 million doses a week, although one would think that's going to take a hit over Easter

[Raggs]

647K doses delivered yesterday, 405K of which were 2nd doses. Still cracking on at nearly 4 million doses a week, although one would think that's going to take a hit over Easter

The doctors surgery here isn't open over easter, which is why they were trying to find arms to stick the remaining vaccine into (hurray for me). Assume that will be repeated over the country. Big slump, but we know that capacity is higher, so it may not effect things that much, since the few extra days supply will get injected quickly enough.

[SaintK]

647K doses delivered yesterday, 405K of which were 2nd doses. Still cracking on at nearly 4 million doses a week, although one would think that's going to take a hit over Easter

That's quite astonishing really!

[Glaston]

The whole OAZ imbroglio.

Religious folk in Fiji are calling it ( the OAZ jab) as being Satans work.
Govt are struggling to get people to now register for the vaccination.

Congrats to the EU.
EU Cnuts were out in force taking credit for the first doses to arrive in Fiji, they have gone quiet now.

[Sandstorm]

Only Trump could have fucked up global Covid vaccine acceptance worse than Ursula.

[Saint]

Pfizer has broken it;s public silence (nevermind everything it had said privately had been leaked immediately) and has accused the EU of harming global vaccination efforts.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... e-rollout/

Pfizer has accused the European Union of hampering its Covid vaccine production.

The US drugmaker, which supplies Britain and more than 70 other countries with coronavirus jabs, said new EU rules about the free movement of goods across borders were damaging its ability to export the vaccine.

The rules oblige manufacturers to seek Brussels' approval before exporting every parcel of jabs, which has caused "a significant administrative burden and some uncertainty", said Danny Hendrikse, the pharmaceutical giant's vice-president of global supply.

“Ultimately what we would like our colleagues to do is to focus on making and distributing the vaccine,” he said.

Mr Hendrikse explained the process of gathering all the raw materials needed for jabs was "particularly complex".

"The components don't just come from Europe, but from all over the world," he said, explaining that for one dose, 280 are needed, which come from 86 suppliers in 19 countries.

His comments come amid a fierce dispute Britain and the EU over export controls.

European leaders had threatened to block exports of the vaccine to Britain while demanding that AstraZeneca boost production on the Continent.


The export plan was vetoed, but EU officials said on Wednesday that no jabs would be shipped to the UK if AstraZeneca failed to meet its commitments to the bloc.

There have also been concerns in EU countries over side-effects from the vaccine.

On Wednesday, the EU's medical regulator told Germany and France that they had no reason to stop using AstraZeneca vaccines after its rollout was halted over concerns about a rare blood disease.

Europe's vaccine rollout has been slow, with France administering about 10.7m jabs, far fewer than the UK’s 30.9 million doses. Germany has delivered about 12.9m doses.

It comes as a third wave of the virus is spreading through Europe, with Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announcing a month-long lockdown in France that includes school closures.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine are the two jabs currently in rotation in the UK.


The UK Government began the roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine on Dec 8. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, the Oxford jab does not require ultra-low temperatures.

The Pfizer vaccine blocks 94 per cent of asymptomatic cases, an Israeli study has shown.

The Israeli ministry of health found that the Pfizer vaccine has an efficacy of 97 per cent against disease and death and 94 per cent against infection without symptoms.

[BnM]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... ccine-row/

British taxpayers have invested millions of pounds into a Dutch vaccine factory at the centre of a threatened blockade by the European Commission, The Telegraph can disclose.

Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, warned that "zero" jabs would be sent to the UK until AstraZeneca had fulfilled its commitments to Brussels, even after Germany suspended routine use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged below 60 because of fears of rare blood clots.

"If [AstraZeneca] does more, we don't have any issue, but as long as it doesn't deliver its commitment to us, the doses stay in Europe," Mr Breton said. "There is no negotiation."

The Halix factory in Leiden was equipped to produce doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, approved a major investment last April.

The money – reported to be in the region of £21 million – was meant to secure vital shipments to the UK.

The University of Oxford signed a deal with the Dutch firm after identifying the brand new Halix plant as suitable for building up capacity for millions of doses. Scientists from the university then approached Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, with a request for 10 million euros to build barrels capable of holding 1,000 litres of raw vaccine.

"There will probably be a huge demand for vaccines if they successfully pass the tests," the scientists wrote in a letter leaked to the Dutch broadcaster NOS. "Most likely, the quantities of available vaccines will be limited for several months. To avoid major delays, production capacity must be increased now."

But the Dutch failed to sign the deal despite entering initial talks with Halix. The failure to invest meant the EU missed the chance to secure millions of doses for itself, sources suggested.

According to the Dutch media, the promised UK investment was in the region of 25 million Euros, around £21m, although a Department of Health source said the precise reported figure was "incorrect".

On Thursday night, an EU official admitted the bloc had yet to contribute any cash to the Halix factory, saying: "We have checked for any EU funding possibly given to Halix under EU financial instruments but could not identify any support. This does not prejudge any national funding given by member states."

The stand-off over the Halix factory is further complicated by Brussels' demand for vaccines from the two AstraZeneca factories in the UK, which manufacture the vast majority of the AstraZeneca jabs used by Britain.

The commission wants Boris Johnson to release AstraZeneca from its UK contract, which gives Britain first refusal on jabs. It argues that the EU contract with AstraZeneca counts the two British plants as part of the bloc's supply chain.

[Glaston]

Seems the EU is blocking more vaccine going to Australia.


From Queensland's Chief Health officer
" it all comes down to the twin problem caused by Europe’s decision to stop Australia’s access to 3.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, along with the long wait for CSL to reach full production at its Melbourne labs."

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/fede ... 57fvd.html

[TheNatalShark]

Yeah, I agree it isn't really a European thing - but it can look/feel that way as the EU have been making noises like unsafe, unproven etc before now.

But the decision making on this issue is absolutely nuts, and while it may be being justified in terms of instilling public confidence in the process, the reality is that it's harming confidence each and every time they do this type of thing.

But the problem is you've said it again - where have the EU or EMA said anything about unsafe or unproven? National leaders or the usual bampots in EU parliament yes, but haven't seen anything to date but defence of the vaccine by commission or EMA. Sorry if it seems a pedantic thing and you mean EU = Europe, but it plays into "us vs them"

As for the national regulators, have zero idea about them but would hope it is just something like a certainty threshold of MHRA and others of 99.99% vs 99.999% for those ones. I would wonder if they factor in public confidence in these decisions made, and that they feel this transparency is required for their public to 'maintain'/gain confidence, whilst we see it as unnecessary.


Separate, the MHRA response indicates 11 million doses administered in the UK so far, so assuming that is fairly up to date looks like the majority of doses administered so far are Pfizer, which should change I guess. Not sure why we're so secretive/unopen of the data vs other countries.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra ... 19-vaccine

Anyway, time for match of the weekend

Once the vaccine acquisition process became an EU issue while the delivery was still down to individual countries, and sign-off/approval relies on both, the the conflation of the EU and national politicians becomes inevitable - you might try to separate the two but it;s a distinction that is actually pretty meaningless.

As has been noted elsewhere, the UK is being secretive as they;re wary of other countries looking at our deployment and potentially using that data to block exports etc. While I dislike the concept, I can understand it in light of the EU's behaviour specifically with regards to AZ. The simple, unhappy, truth is that no other country can be trusted not to interfere in supply contracts if they believe that they might gain political capital from it - and on the flip side, the current UK government is doing all it can to gain it's own capital about being ahead of the curve.

I think saying that considering the distinction between the supra and national governments interactions + responsibilities, particularly when we know the difference, is pretty meaningless lies at the heart of our attitude towards the EU - a very deliberate and wilful ignorance. There is plenty of distinction drawn within the continent and it is pertinent they at least make those otherwise nothing - nothing - will be learnt from the crisis. If we don't do the same we just spread disinformation and fail to learn the same in our interactions with "our friends and allies".

Re non-open data, from my perspective to point made, is that the information is easily derived given the public announcement of dosages awarded, fairly public stated aims, ah-hoc annunciation of vaccine specific dosages awarded (eg MHRA 11mm) vs existence of EU export control mechanism and only one other supplier (SII). This opaqueness probably contributed to (hindsight to above discussion of course) the EU's catch-up investigation of exports made prior to 29 Jan export control implementation. I imagine the EU looked at the figures provided by AZ with distrust, thus the police visit of the Italy finish and fill centre (and European gutter press media hysteria about 29 million doses to UK). Is the benefit of open data greater than potential kickback? Obviously not in gov calcs, but can say the same in other data we do release.

[Saint]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... ccine-row/

British taxpayers have invested millions of pounds into a Dutch vaccine factory at the centre of a threatened blockade by the European Commission, The Telegraph can disclose.

Thierry Breton, the EU's internal market commissioner, warned that "zero" jabs would be sent to the UK until AstraZeneca had fulfilled its commitments to Brussels, even after Germany suspended routine use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged below 60 because of fears of rare blood clots.

"If [AstraZeneca] does more, we don't have any issue, but as long as it doesn't deliver its commitment to us, the doses stay in Europe," Mr Breton said. "There is no negotiation."

The Halix factory in Leiden was equipped to produce doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine after Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, approved a major investment last April.

The money – reported to be in the region of £21 million – was meant to secure vital shipments to the UK.

The University of Oxford signed a deal with the Dutch firm after identifying the brand new Halix plant as suitable for building up capacity for millions of doses. Scientists from the university then approached Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, with a request for 10 million euros to build barrels capable of holding 1,000 litres of raw vaccine.

"There will probably be a huge demand for vaccines if they successfully pass the tests," the scientists wrote in a letter leaked to the Dutch broadcaster NOS. "Most likely, the quantities of available vaccines will be limited for several months. To avoid major delays, production capacity must be increased now."

But the Dutch failed to sign the deal despite entering initial talks with Halix. The failure to invest meant the EU missed the chance to secure millions of doses for itself, sources suggested.

According to the Dutch media, the promised UK investment was in the region of 25 million Euros, around £21m, although a Department of Health source said the precise reported figure was "incorrect".

On Thursday night, an EU official admitted the bloc had yet to contribute any cash to the Halix factory, saying: "We have checked for any EU funding possibly given to Halix under EU financial instruments but could not identify any support. This does not prejudge any national funding given by member states."

The stand-off over the Halix factory is further complicated by Brussels' demand for vaccines from the two AstraZeneca factories in the UK, which manufacture the vast majority of the AstraZeneca jabs used by Britain.

The commission wants Boris Johnson to release AstraZeneca from its UK contract, which gives Britain first refusal on jabs. It argues that the EU contract with AstraZeneca counts the two British plants as part of the bloc's supply chain.

Just so we've got this clear then. The UK directly owns most of the production capacity in the UK (via VMIC) and has now made significant investment into one of the two sites in the EU which has allowed it to scale to the required size.

[Raggs]

Just so we've got this clear then. The UK directly owns most of the production capacity in the UK (via VMIC) and has now made significant investment into one of the two sites in the EU which has allowed it to scale to the required size.

You forgot the bit where that means that therefore the EU should have 1st dibs on any vaccine produced in any of those, even though they've completely destroyed the confidence of their public in them.

[Saint]

Just so we've got this clear then. The UK directly owns most of the production capacity in the UK (via VMIC) and has now made significant investment into one of the two sites in the EU which has allowed it to scale to the required size.

You forgot the bit where that means that therefore the EU should have 1st dibs on any vaccine produced in any of those, even though they've completely destroyed the confidence of their public in them.

I didn't think that needed re-iterating at this stage

[Raggs]

Just so we've got this clear then. The UK directly owns most of the production capacity in the UK (via VMIC) and has now made significant investment into one of the two sites in the EU which has allowed it to scale to the required size.

You forgot the bit where that means that therefore the EU should have 1st dibs on any vaccine produced in any of those, even though they've completely destroyed the confidence of their public in them.

I didn't think that needed re-iterating at this stage

I feel it does! Whenever someone raises how well the vaccination program is going in the UK, I feel the need to raise the disaster in all other areas, so don't think I need to avoid pointing out the negatives/positives elsewhere either.

[Calculon]

Slightly old news but j and j committed to supply 400 million doses to Africa, so that's equivalent of 800 million doses of AZ or Pfizer. Some wil be made by Aspen in South Africa. Merck and Sanofi will also produce the J and j vaccine. Don't know if these will be delivered in time to help mitigate India's ban on their AZ exports. A lot of poorer countries would also rather use the j and j over AZ due to its one shot nature.

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/joh ... ican-union

[laurent]

Partner getting her Shot today :)

She made enquiries and they must have had some cancellation

Really happy and relieved ...

My turn is in > 6weeks

[laurent]

Partner getting her Shot today :)

She made enquiries and they must have had some cancellation
Really happy and relieved ...

My turn is in > 6weeks

Bad knees are not pre existing condition to cut the line.

That's the only health issue I have so can't complain

[Saint]

589K doses yesterday, 435K of which were 2nd doses; just shy of 5 million now double dosed.

Over Easter data for cases, deaths and vaccinations will be updated daily but with some variations.....

England: data updated daily
Northern Ireland: no cases and deaths data on 4 April
Scotland: data updated daily
Wales: no data on 2 April and 4 April (note: cases and deaths data released on 5 April and 6 April will both cover 48 hour periods)

[Ovals]

589K doses yesterday, 435K of which were 2nd doses; just shy of 5 million now double dosed.

Over Easter data for cases, deaths and vaccinations will be updated daily but with some variations.....


England: data updated daily
Northern Ireland: no cases and deaths data on 4 April
Scotland: data updated daily
Wales: no data on 2 April and 4 April (note: cases and deaths data released on 5 April and 6 April will both cover 48 hour periods)

Vaccine numbers seem to be staying pretty high - good to see the 2nd doses climbing rapidly.

[Saint]

589K doses yesterday, 435K of which were 2nd doses; just shy of 5 million now double dosed.

Over Easter data for cases, deaths and vaccinations will be updated daily but with some variations.....


England: data updated daily
Northern Ireland: no cases and deaths data on 4 April
Scotland: data updated daily
Wales: no data on 2 April and 4 April (note: cases and deaths data released on 5 April and 6 April will both cover 48 hour periods)

Vaccine numbers seem to be staying pretty high - good to see the 2nd doses climbing rapidly.

The 7 day rolling average is actually ticking up slightly at the moment - only just off the peak (560K vs 602K)

[Slick]

BBC are reporting across all their channels 7 blood clot deaths from 18m vaccines. Seems an outrageous report

[Sandstorm]

BBC are reporting across all their channels 7 blood clot deaths from 18m vaccines. Seems an outrageous report

Well it is a FACT.

But won’t play well across Europe.

[Raggs]

Does it actually link it to the vaccine or it's just people have died and people have had the vaccine.

There could be even less causation than ice cream and drowning.

[BnM]

BBC are reporting across all their channels 7 blood clot deaths from 18m vaccines. Seems an outrageous report

Well it is a FACT.

But won’t play well across Europe.

The only figures I could find was we'd expect about 330 cases of these blood clots pa. So then it doesn't seem bad but that's extrapolated from US figures. How many cases pa do we normally have?

[TheNatalShark]

BBC are reporting across all their channels 7 blood clot deaths from 18m vaccines. Seems an outrageous report

Well it is a FACT.

But won’t play well across Europe.

Will it not play well in Canada?


Question, do we think all the countries that have suspended are lying about their incidence reports, and that the initial investigations and theory put forward by the Oslo university hospital that really kicked off the national suspensions is nothing more than the utterances of dribbling morons seeking to protect Norway's precious place as a central pillar in the EU? Should we go outside, shift gaze between our sun dials and erected flags and say it's "All alright Jack" and stop any in market monitoring of the great product?

Or do we just let them get on with investigations and review/cry the sky in Europe (+ Canada and RoW?) is falling down if they identify something we think relevant.



In the meantime, demand for AZ the vaccine in Europe will continue to outstrip the supply, rendering our wailings about "briefings" against AZ efficacy by "the EU" moot.

France



Italy



Interestingly Spain currently has a very low utilisation rate of Moderna doses received, less than 50%. Presume partially to do with holding 2nd dose reserves. Note this data doesn't include 1mm AZ doses received on Thursday

https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/ ... 210401.pdf


Whilst chunks of Germany and Spain are taking Easter weekend breaks from vaccinations because religion (and to allow Germans to and return from Majorca trips).

[Saint]

BBC are reporting across all their channels 7 blood clot deaths from 18m vaccines. Seems an outrageous report

Well it is a FACT.

But won’t play well across Europe.

The only figures I could find was we'd expect about 330 cases of these blood clots pa. So then it doesn't seem bad but that's extrapolated from US figures. How many cases pa do we normally have?

part of the trouble is that

1 - no-one really knows. There are estimates in the UK that range from 8 to 500 per annum
2 - covid itself can cause blood clots, and we don't really know if the vaccine is causing this or if they've happened to catch covid before the immunity became effective, or if it's just background "noise"

[Biffer]

Well it is a FACT.

But won’t play well across Europe.

The only figures I could find was we'd expect about 330 cases of these blood clots pa. So then it doesn't seem bad but that's extrapolated from US figures. How many cases pa do we normally have?

part of the trouble is that

1 - no-one really knows. There are estimates in the UK that range from 8 to 500 per annum
2 - covid itself can cause blood clots, and we don't really know if the vaccine is causing this or if they've happened to catch covid before the immunity became effective, or if it's just background "noise"

Yeah, I saw a review paper the other day for these kind of blood clots which was from 2018. IIRC they said traditional opinion had been somewhere between 1 and 8 per million people per year, but some recent studies (2016/17) in Netherlands and Australian had higher figures of about 15-18 per million people per year. It’s not been widely studied though.

[Saint]

The only figures I could find was we'd expect about 330 cases of these blood clots pa. So then it doesn't seem bad but that's extrapolated from US figures. How many cases pa do we normally have?

part of the trouble is that

1 - no-one really knows. There are estimates in the UK that range from 8 to 500 per annum
2 - covid itself can cause blood clots, and we don't really know if the vaccine is causing this or if they've happened to catch covid before the immunity became effective, or if it's just background "noise"

Yeah, I saw a review paper the other day for these kind of blood clots which was from 2018. IIRC they said traditional opinion had been somewhere between 1 and 8 per million people per year, but some recent studies (2016/17) in Netherlands and Australian had higher figures of about 15-18 per million people per year. It’s not been widely studied though.

Exactly. Pretty much the first time there has been a wide study of this is post vaccination. The guess/estimate is that lots of this has been undiagnosed in the past, but no-one really has any idea.

In the meantime UK published stats aren't all that meaningful over Easter, but over 5 million are now double dosed - around 10% of the eligble population at the moment

[Sandstorm]

Hawaii has been almost Covid19 free for a year. But it’s Easter and hundreds of thousands of Yanks and Canucks have descended this week. No Covid checks, quarantine or vaccine passports in place obviously.

Hire cars are impossible to get, so Uber Infection Machines are running 24/7. Bars and restaurants are supposed to be max 50% occupancy, but no one is listening.

Expect a major spike in the next couple of weeks in the Islands.

[Raggs]

Hawaii has been almost Covid19 free for a year. But it’s Easter and hundreds of thousands of Yanks and Canucks have descended this week. No Covid checks, quarantine or vaccine passports in place obviously.

Hire cars are impossible to get, so Uber Infection Machines are running 24/7. Bars and restaurants are supposed to be max 50% occupancy, but no one is listening.

Expect a major spike in the next couple of weeks in the Islands.

There's a lot of the nasty p1 variant in Canada too, that would be really bad.

[Sandstorm]

Hawaii has been almost Covid19 free for a year. But it’s Easter and hundreds of thousands of Yanks and Canucks have descended this week. No Covid checks, quarantine or vaccine passports in place obviously.

Hire cars are impossible to get, so Uber Infection Machines are running 24/7. Bars and restaurants are supposed to be max 50% occupancy, but no one is listening.

Expect a major spike in the next couple of weeks in the Islands.

There's a lot of the nasty p1 variant in Canada too, that would be really bad.

Delta are filling their middle seats again, despite govt guidelines. So planes and destinations have more people close together.

[Raggs]

Hawaii has been almost Covid19 free for a year. But it’s Easter and hundreds of thousands of Yanks and Canucks have descended this week. No Covid checks, quarantine or vaccine passports in place obviously.

Hire cars are impossible to get, so Uber Infection Machines are running 24/7. Bars and restaurants are supposed to be max 50% occupancy, but no one is listening.

Expect a major spike in the next couple of weeks in the Islands.

There's a lot of the nasty p1 variant in Canada too, that would be really bad.

Delta are filling their middle seats again, despite govt guidelines. So planes and destinations have more people close together.

Craziness.

I really hope the UK doesn't go over the top as we unlock. We've got an incredibly low case rate right now I feel, but we're still pretty restricted. Hopefully we can keep pushing it down and get out of this safely, without a massive third wave, even if it's not as deadly.