World
AstraZeneca says reports of vaccine’s low efficacy among elderly is “completely incorrect”
The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca says reports that its Covid-19 vaccine has an extremely low efficacy among the elderly is “completely incorrect.” German newspapers published articles today reporting that the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in partnership with Oxford University, has an efficacy less than 10% in those over 65 years old.
The economic daily Handelsblatt reported that Berlin estimated the vaccine’s efficacy for those over 65 years old was just 8%. The vaccine is set to be approved by the European Union this week, but the report adds that Berlin does not expect the vaccine will receive a license allowing use for the elderly.
AstraZeneca released a statement saying the reports of the low efficacy rate for adults over 65 is “completely incorrect.”
“In November, we published data in The Lancet demonstrating that older adults showed strong immune responses to the vaccine, with 100% of older adults generating spike-specific antibodies after the second dose.”
Thailand is lined up to receive 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine next month and the Thai government has approved the vaccine for emergency use. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is now calling on hospitals, both public and private, to prepare for the first phase of vaccinations, starting with health care workers and vulnerable groups in high risk areas. The vaccine requires 2 doses injected 4 to 12 weeks apart.
SOURCES: Reuters | Nation Thailand | AFP
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days agoWednesday Covid Update: Record high of 13,002 new cases; provincial totals
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Thailand2 days agoTampons reclassified as cosmetics bringing regulation, tax
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)3 days agoThursday Covid Update: 13,655 new cases and 87 deaths; provincial totals
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago39 year old dies after AstraZeneca vaccine, a second dose following Sinovac
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)3 days agoWoman with high blood pressure died after mixing vaccines
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Phuket3 days agoUPDATE: Details from woman who escaped Phuket Sandbox
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)1 day agoDepartment head predicts Covid-19 could last up to another year
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Phuket4 days agoBoat tours to nearby islands offered to Phuket “Sandbox” travellers
Toby Andrews
Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 12:08 am
Well if the Thais do not want it, they can go for other vaccines.
I do not want them to have a vaccine from Britain anyway, after the the way they have treated British visitors to Thailand over the last 9 months.
As for them producing this vaccine in Thailand, I would not trust them to produce any vaccine.
They will just produce phials of tap water.
If it does not work they will just claim the British vaccine does not work.
EdwardV
Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 1:44 am
Astra Zeneca has clearly having a bad week. In addition to the German claim, the EU is also very unhappy. AZ said they were going to deliver 60% less doses than planned to the EU during the first quarter. The EU is threatening to to restrict exports of the vaccine which has a lot of countries worried. They are also having issues in the US. Seems when they had the debacle with the phase III trail in GB, that caused the phase III trail in the US to be delayed. It’s not finished yet. Once the US trail is finished there’s still the question if the efficacy is or isn’t high enough. The reason is the government won’t approve it if it’s too low in comparison to the others that have been approved. Luckily Pfizer just announced they will be able to supply 200M doses by the end of May, two months sooner than previously expected. Hopefully we should hear from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine next week.
John_2
Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 5:32 pm
What a sordid history the vaccine industry is.
*SV40 cancer causing monkey virus in the *Polio vaccine that spread globally and now causes 30-60% of all soft tissue cancers world wide all the way to Bill Gates vaccines being banned in India for containing sterilization additives.
*officially admitted by the US government that 96 million shots of the Polio Vaccine were contaminated with SV40.
Shane
Friday, January 29, 2021 at 1:23 pm
I just hope Johnson & Johnson are in no way related to Boris.