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(April 21, 2021)
Among 3958 participants enrolled in the v-safe pregnancy registry, 827 had a completed pregnancy, of which 115 (13.9%) were pregnancy losses and 712 (86.1%) were live births (mostly among participants vaccinated in the third trimester).
(7 July 2021)
The number of women reporting changes to their menstrual cycle linked to having a COVID vaccine has risen to 13,000.
The figure has increased from around 4,000 women last month.
(25 Dec 2021)
In an interview with the Guardian, Monto considered both this possible future – in which Covid-19 “is not going away, in spite of how well our vaccines perform” – and an incredible and perplexing year of vaccine distribution.
“The first thing is [that] we never expected our vaccines to be so good, so effective,” said Monto. “This was a very happy surprise to everybody – and it was a surprise.”
(April 21, 2021)
Among 3958 participants enrolled in the v-safe pregnancy registry, 827 had a completed pregnancy, of which 115 (13.9%) were pregnancy losses and 712 (86.1%) were live births (mostly among participants vaccinated in the third trimester).
(04.08.2021)
Of the 3,958 participants, 827 had what the study defines as a ‘completed pregnancy’. This term includes those who either had a baby (what the authors call a ‘live birth’), or those who suffered from a miscarriage or still birth (termed ‘pregnancy loss’ in the study). The rest were either still pregnant or a follow-up had not yet been made by the time the preliminary analysis had been released.
Of the 827 women who had a completed pregnancy, 104 had a miscarriage.
(05 December 2021)
One in five women who took part in a survey said their menstrual cycles were affected after they received a covid jab, UK researchers have revealed.
However there was no evidence of the vaccine causing long-term disruption to their periods or affecting their fertility.
(September 9, 2021)
Harvard Medical School and the Boston University School of Public Health are among a group of institutions awarded funding to study potential links between coronavirus vaccinations and changes in menstruation.
Researchers at five institutions were awarded a total of $1.67 million by the National Institutes of Heath to look into the question after anecdotal reports from women earlier this year that after they were vaccinated, they saw changes, including earlier, heavier, and more painful periods.
30.09.2021)
The medical establishment could not explain the phenomenon or associate it with the vaccination, among other things because irregular menstruation is common and influenced by many factors. It is usually not considered exceptional. However, the mounting complaints and increased concern women were showing over taking the shots due to the phenomenon, has spurred the medical community to look into the matter. Preliminary research has been published in Britain and the United States, and the U.S. government has allocated $1.67 million for research on the subject.
(7 July 2021)
The number of women reporting changes to their menstrual cycle linked to having a COVID vaccine has risen to 13,000.
The figure has increased from around 4,000 women last month.
(28th June 2021)
Doctors point out that there is no scientific evidence to show that vaccination can alter cycles and bleeding patterns. They, however, say it could be related to stress.
(7 April 2021)
In February, officials looked at nearly 7,000 reactions reported to the agency’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
They found that nearly 80 percent of the reactions were reported by women, making them four times more likely to report a side effect than men.
This held true whether they were receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the Moderna vaccine, and is despite the fact that women are less likely to fall severely ill from COVID-19 than men are.
(Updated 7 December 2021)
Background to myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination and guidelines:
– this is a rare condition following vaccination (see the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) weekly summary for the latest data)
– most patients who develop symptoms do so within a week of vaccination
– most patients who develop symptoms have usually been vaccinated with a mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna)
– myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination is usually mild or stable and most patients typically recover fully without medical treatment
– myocarditis – a very small number of those with this condition have been admitted to hospital. In 2 studies from the US [footnote 1] [footnote 2], significant left ventricular (LV) fibrosis has been described in a high percentage of those children admitted to hospital, with a small percentage of these having non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT)
. no long-term follow-up data is available yet on hospitalised patients
( Dec. 4, 2021)
Japan’s health ministry has listed inflammation of the heart muscle and of the outer lining of the heart in younger males as possible serious side effects of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID vaccines.
(Oct. 6, 2021)
Males between 16 and 29 years of age have an increased risk of developing heart problems after receiving a second dose of coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNtech or Moderna, according to a large new analysis published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, conducted in Israel, estimated that nearly 11 of every 100,000 males in that age group developed myocarditis, inflammation of the heart, a few days after having been fully vaccinated. That figure is higher than most earlier estimates.
(Published Aug. 25, 2021 Updated Sept. 1, 2021)
Although the study did not break down the myocarditis risks by age or by sex, the median age of people who developed the condition after vaccination was 25, and 19 of the 21 cases were in males, the researchers reported.
In addition to myocarditis, the Pfizer vaccine was also associated with an increased risk of swollen lymph nodes, appendicitis and shingles, although all three side effects remained uncommon in the study.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) quietly changed their definition of “Vaccination” on September 1st, exchanging the word “immunity” for “protection,” now that it appears that breakthrough cases can no longer be explained away as an anomaly.
The definition change occurred on the same day – September 1st – that a massive study was released demonstrating that those who had been vaccinated were “13 times more likely to be infected with the Delta variant (what has been called a “breakthrough” infection) than those with natural immunity,” as summarized at the American Conservative.
Explanations for Israel’s vaccine effectiveness data
When Israeli researchers announced last month that people vaccinated in the winter were more likely to contract Covid than those who had been vaccinated in the spring, many assumed this demonstrated waning vaccine effectiveness.
The data from Israel’s Ministry of Health suggested that vaccine effectiveness against both infection and symptomatic disease had decreased to around 40%, but this decline may have been due to other factors and not the vaccines, Wu writes
(02.09.2021)
According to an agreement signed between the government and these hospitals, they were supposed to receive a 630-million-shekel budget between January and June 2021. Of this money, 300 million shekels were for their routine operations and 330 million shekels were for coronavirus related work. The agreement was also supposed to provide another 55 million shekels a month between June and December. However, the government has only provided these hospitals with a total of 300 million shekels.
Sebastian James is one of the most prominent business leaders so far to speak out in support of the Daily Mail campaign to stop vital workers being compelled to isolate unnecessarily.
In an interview with the Mail, he revealed that staff absence rates have increased by 50 per cent throughout his chain’s 2,330 stores, which offer important pharmacy services to the public.
But the Public Health England research he cited was six months old and carried out before the vast majority of the public had been vaccinated against Covid.
It also involved only those who had been alerted by NHS Test and Trace as close contacts of positive cases.
The Prime Minister implied it covered the NHS Covid app, which had not been rolled out at the time. The app tends to be less reliable at identifying close contacts than Test and Trace and can ‚ping‘ people through walls.
(23.07.2021)
Coronavirus latest: THE ARMY is on standby to step in and help secure the nation’s food supplies if the Pingdemic worsens, a Cabinet minister said today.
According to the health department, the number of people using the NHS Test and Trace app to register at pubs, shops and other venues fell 10 per cent compared with the previous week — which has been seen as another sign of deletions.
(20.07.2021)
Forty per cent of respondents say they never had the app in the first place
– Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng admits he can’t guarantee ‚pingdemic‘ won’t continue beyond August 16
– Iceland said it closed ‚a number of stores‘ due to staff having to self-isolate after being notified by NHS app
– The frozen food chain revealed 1,000 employees – four per cent of its workforce – have had to stay at home
– It said that in the next few days it will start to draft in another 2,000 people to fill temporary roles in stores
– Meanwhile BP said it has had to temporarily close some of its stations due to petrol and diesel supply issues
– The oil company said the problems were being caused by a shortage of lorry drivers that had been ‚pinged‘
This is a 16.7 per cent increase on seven days before, when 530,126 ‚pings‘ were sent out.
And it is likely that the actual number is much higher, once people who have been contacted by Test and Trace are factored in.
The nation is currently in the grips of a so-called ‚pingdemic‘, with fears the economy could grind to a halt if the problem persists.
The NHS COVID-19 Data Store sits on a Microsoft Azure platform under contract with NHS England and NHS Improvement. Within that secure cloud processing environment, Palantir (acting under instruction from NHS England) manage their platform which is called Foundry.
Palantir, have built analytical dashboards for access by NHS England and Improvement staff, together with staff in the following organisations working under contract: Faculty AI, McKinsey and Deloittes.
(10.05.2020)
Palantir was co-founded in 2004 by Paypal owner and billionaire Peter Thiel. What the blog doesn’t reveal is that Palantir’s client list has included amomgst others, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the Centre for Disease Control, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, West Point and the IRS.
Furthermore, in 2016, it was revealed Palantir had a $34.6m contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and helped the Customs and Border Protection Agency create the Analytical Framework for Intelligence (AFI) system to track immigrants.
Nor does the blog mention that Palantir worked for UK intelligence and was awarded contracts to handle vast data sets on UK citizens for British spy agency GCHQ.
(31 March 2020)
Earlier in the day, in a series of tweets, Bennett had floated the idea of giving the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Unit 8200, along with NSO, access to highly personal data of Israeli citizens that had been collected by the Shin Bet security service and Health Ministry as part of an already contentious mass surveillance program.
He joins a growing number of MPs and leading scientists, including Prof Tim Spector, of King’s College London, warning the daily slew of Covid statistics are terrifying people and they lack any context, such as figures on flu, heart disease and cancer.
Conservative MPs are pressing Downing Street to follow officials in Quebec, Canada, and Singapore by moving to weekly updates or similar, ahead of the July 19 unlocking.
But after 80 Tory MPs told No 10 he had to go after they were deluged with complaints, Mr Hancock gave a video statement on Saturday afternoon that he had quit after he breached social distancing guidance by kissing Gina Coladangelo against his office door.
In response Mr Johnson said he was ’sorry to receive‘ Hancock’s resignation.
It is never clear whether the government is following public opinion or leading it. In trying to do both, they get the worst of both worlds.
Speaking to the media for the first time since becoming Health Secretary on Saturday, Mr Javid said: „I was honoured to take up this position. I also know that it comes with a huge responsibility and I will do everything I can to make sure that I deliver for this great country.
„We are still in a pandemic and I want to see that come to an end as soon as possible and that will be my most immediate priority, to see that we can return to normal as soon and as quickly as possible.“
The sting that brought down Matt Hancock was executed by a whistleblower in his department who contacted opponents of the Health Secretary’s stance on lockdown to help expose his affair, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The footage of Mr Hancock kissing Gina Coladangelo was caught on a CCTV camera in his office on May 6, and secretly recorded by a member of his department’s staff.
After allowing a month to elapse, the whistleblower approached lockdown sceptics and asked them to help sell the incendiary footage to the media.
I have no idea what qualifies Ms Coladangelo, a lobbyist and communications director, to be an adviser and non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care, other than the fact she has been pals with Hancock for years. Perhaps we know now why Hancock failed at the time of the appointment to declare his “friendship” with her. In her time of advising him, Hancock oversaw the highest death rates in Europe from Covid, so the value of this appointment was seemingly for him, not for us. The whole thing stinks. It stank even before the videos of the kiss.
Thirteen months ago, Dominic Cummings faced an avalanche of demands to resign after being caught in an egregious breach of the Covid lockdown regulations. Although Cummings had clearly broken rules that he had helped to draw up, and public opinion was against him, he survived – albeit for only a few months – because Boris Johnson stood behind him.
This weekend, Matt Hancock also had Johnson’s backing…
New ICD-10 codes for COVID-19
– U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified
– U07.2 Clinically or epidemiologically diagnosed COVID-19
– Probable COVID-19
– Suspected COVID-19
Details of the updates to ICD-10 are available online at: https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/icd10updates/en/.
ICD-10 cause of death coding of COVID-19
Though “COVID-19” is the standard recommended terminology, certifiers may use a range of terms to describe COVID-19 as a cause of death. A list of potential terms can be found in the annex of this document. Although both categories, U07.1 (COVID-19, virus identified) and U07.2 (COVID-19, virus not identified) are suitable for cause of death coding, it is recognized that in many countries detail as to the laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 will NOT be reported on the death certificate. In the absence of this detail, it is recommended, for mortality purposes only, to code COVID-19 provisionally to U07.1 unless it is stated as “probable” or “suspected”.
– German health officials banned use of AstraZeneca vaccine in under-60s
– Earlier Berlin’s Charite hospital banned AZ jabs for women under the age of 55
– It comes despite authoritative rulings by experts that the jab is safe and effective
– Canada yesterday banned AZ jab for under-55s over the blood clot concerns
Levy, the ministry’s director general, points to Europe’s potential ban on exporting the vaccine beyond the continent, particularly to countries such as Israel, where vaccination levels are high. If Israel signs the new contracts, it might be protected against such export bans. The ministry is also hastening Israel to sign contracts prior to the completion of clinical trials of the vaccine on children, before stiff international competition sets in.
By the morning of March 23, officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases released a letter from its data and safety monitoring board that’s been examining the AstraZeneca trial, Andrew Joseph reports for STAT News. The letter stated that AstraZeneca had used outdated data to reach its efficacy number. The move was unprecedented; usually, monitoring boards keep their correspondence with companies private.
“We just felt we could not remain silent. Because if we did remain silent, we could be understandably accused of covering something up. And we definitely didn’t want to be in that position,” says Anthony Fauci, director of the NIAID, to STAT News. “In my mind, it’s an unforced error by the company.”
Britain negotiated a better contract to secure vaccine supplies with AstraZeneca that trumps the EU’s agreement with the company, the health secretary has said.
EU leaders will today discuss European Commission proposals for export bans if there are new supply shortages this spring amid a dispute over who gets a stock of four million doses made by AstraZeneca’s Dutch factory.
(today)
Israel:
Total Cases: 812,823
New Cases: +1,331
Total Deaths: 5,955
New Deaths: +5
Total Recovered: 770,156
Active Cases: 36,712
Serious, Critical: 645
Newly Infected vs. Newly Recovered in Israel
Findings not yet peer-reviewed, interaction of vaccine with B1351 variant unclear due to limited data
(01.03.2021)
(08.03.2021)
Israel has administered over 8.7 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to its population of 9.3 million. Over 3.7 million Israelis — more than 40% — have received both of the doses required for maximum immunity.
(07.02.2021)
While Israel races ahead on putting shots in arms, the country is also seeing a spike in cases, with almost 74 out of every 100,000 Israelis testing positive for the virus, compared to about 40 out of every 100,000 Americans. On Thursday, the death toll in Israel crossed 5,000.
When asked about the seemingly contradictory puzzle, Galia Rahav, the head of the infectious-disease unit at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center, sighed, chuckled, and said: “This is Israel. We have to be extreme in everything.”
(04.02.2021)
INFECTIONS are rising in Israel despite a third of the population having already received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine
No one would accept a situation in which journalists reporting on the coronavirus also work for Pfizer, for money, at the same time, without informing readers. And these are just reporters. What physicians decide and do directly impacts public health, sometimes on matters of life and death. This certainly applies to people advising the government on policies. The public has the right to know exactly how much parties with vested interests are paying the physicians.
New ICD-10 codes for COVID-19
– U07.1 COVID-19, virus identified
– U07.2 Clinically or epidemiologically diagnosed COVID-19
– Probable COVID-19
– Suspected COVID-19
Details of the updates to ICD-10 are available online at: https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/icd10updates/en/.
ICD-10 cause of death coding of COVID-19
Though “COVID-19” is the standard recommended terminology, certifiers may use a range of terms to describe COVID-19 as a cause of death. A list of potential terms can be found in the annex of this document. Although both categories, U07.1 (COVID-19, virus identified) and U07.2 (COVID-19, virus not identified) are suitable for cause of death coding, it is recognized that in many countries detail as to the laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 will NOT be reported on the death certificate. In the absence of this detail, it is recommended, for mortality purposes only, to code COVID-19 provisionally to U07.1 unless it is stated as “probable” or “suspected”.
Case and contact definitions are based on the current available information and are regularly revised as new information accumulates. Countries may need to adapt case definitions depending on their local epidemiological situation and other factors. All countries are encouraged to publish definitions used online and in regular situation reports, and to document periodic updates to definitions which may affect the interpretation of surveillance data.
Suspect case
A. A patient with acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath), AND a history of travel to or residence in a location reporting community transmission of COVID-19 disease during the 14 days prior to symptom onset;
OR
B. A patient with any acute respiratory illness AND having been in contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 case (see definition of contact) in the last 14 days prior to symptom onset;
OR
C. A patient with severe acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath; AND requiring hospitalization) AND in the absence of an alternative diagnosis that fully explains the clinical presentation.
Probable case
A. A suspect case for whom testing for the COVID-19 virus is inconclusive.
OR
B. A suspect case for whom testing could not be performed for any reason.
Confirmed case:
A person with laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 infection, irrespective of clinical signs and symptoms.
There’s good evidence that the shots made by Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc. are very effective — as much as 95% — at preventing recipients from developing Covid-19 itself. However, data haven’t been released on their ability to prevent people from developing asymptomatic infections or transmitting the virus to others. The gold standard in vaccinology is to stop infection as well as disease, providing so-called sterilizing immunity.
Speaking ahead of an emergency summit with vaccine manufacturers to tackle the country’s sluggish rollout, Jens Spahn said that if a vaccine “can be considered safe and effective, regardless of what country it has been produced in, then it could help”.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has advantages that make it an attractive possibility. It can be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures, and its price is low relative to its competitors. Public health experts have long targeted it as ideal for use in lower and moderate-income countries because of these features.
The problem is that its U.S. Phase III trial was delayed because of an adverse event investigation in the fall, and the data from the international trials used by the U.K. government are difficult to interpret due to unplanned modifications to dosing levels.
(29.08.2020)
Most tests set the limit at 40, a few at 37. This means that you are positive for the coronavirus if the test process required up to 40 cycles, or 37, to detect the virus.
Tests with thresholds so high may detect not just live virus but also genetic fragments, leftovers from infection that pose no particular risk — akin to finding a hair in a room long after a person has left, Dr. Mina said.
Any test with a cycle threshold above 35 is too sensitive, agreed Juliet Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside. “I’m shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive,” she said.
(27.12.2020)
Just 388 people aged under 60 with no underlying health conditions have died of Covid-19 in England’s hospitals since the start of the pandemic, NHS data has showed.
The figures show that 1,979 previously healthy people died in hospitals in England after testing positive for Covid-19 between April 2 and December 23.
“We don’t know yet whether an individual can, although not becoming ill from the virus because they have been vaccinated, still catch it and spread it on to others.
Asked whether people who had received the jab could hug their children, Janet Lord, director of Birmingham University’s Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, said: “I would certainly advise not to do that at the moment because as you probably know with the vaccines they take several weeks before they are maximally effective.“
(05.12.2020)
In order to halt the spread of coronavirus completely, a vaccine would need to produce antibodies that stop the virus from replicating. „To prevent asymptomatic infection and transmission, you need what’s called sterilizing immunity,“ Greg Poland, MD, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group, explained to USA Today. While it’s possible that one or more of the vaccines could produce sterilizing immunity, it currently remains unproven.
(16.07.2020)
Ms Alfaro added that the outbreak may have been exacerbated by the fishermen’s hardiness and acclimatisation to rough conditions, in that they may have spent significant time in discomfort without recognising or acknowledging symptoms.
The news comes depsite the Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, ruling out immunity passports back in December, a week after suggesting it was something ministers were considering, saying: “We are not looking at immunity passports at all.”
Matt Hancock also denied plans to implement passporting last week, telling the Spectator: „It’s not an area that we’re looking at.“
Sir John Bell, regius chair of medicine at the University of Oxford, said stubborn NHS bureaucrats were standing in the way of a high-speed mass inoculation programme that could prevent many further deaths.
“The NHS has the theoretical capacity to immunise everybody in five days if they want to, but I don’t get the sense they are really motivated,” Bell told the Times.
Prof Whitty commended the public for their efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 and noted the hope offered by various vaccines, but he echoed other experts in saying it would be some weeks before the jabs start to reduce the number of people taken to hospital.
(09.01.2021)
(2) Clearly what is happening is a reclassification of deaths. Non-Covid deaths are being reclassified as ´Covid deaths’ by means of ramped up PCR testing. Which begs the question: why are they doing this, if not to justify lockdowns and other restrictions?
(10.05.2020)
Palantir was co-founded in 2004 by Paypal owner and billionaire Peter Thiel. What the blog doesn’t reveal is that Palantir’s client list has included amomgst others, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the Centre for Disease Control, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, West Point and the IRS.
Furthermore, in 2016, it was revealed Palantir had a $34.6m contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and helped the Customs and Border Protection Agency create the Analytical Framework for Intelligence (AFI) system to track immigrants.
Nor does the blog mention that Palantir worked for UK intelligence and was awarded contracts to handle vast data sets on UK citizens for British spy agency GCHQ.
(05.06.2020)
UK government has published the contracts it holds with private tech firms and the NHS for the creation of a COVID-19 data store, just days after campaigners fired legal shots over a lack of transparency.
Available on the openDemocracy website, the contracts describe how the arrangements between the NHS and Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and AI firms Faculty and Palantir (which subcontracts to AWS) will operate.
As Palantir’s executives were preparing over the summer to release shares publicly for the first time, they faced a challenge: how do you convince investors to buy into a 17-year-old company that has never turned a profit?
(09 Dec 2020)
Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty were asked if there was something that could be done in the structure in scientific advice that could be a bit more forensic about those restrictions on the sector that have a very big impact on certain people. The scientific advisers said they are trying very hard to get data but can´t give specific data on it, and nor can anyone else across the world.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said that Boris Johnson’s tier system is “no longer strong enough” to deal with the new more virulent variant of coronavirus.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said at the time that it was ‘just not possible’ for Ferguson to continue advising the Government. But this was not true. The professor was said to have resigned from the SAGE advisory committee. But did he? Not really. A current State website lists him as a member of the ‘New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group’ (NERVTAG). Minutes suggest he was only ever away from that for a few weeks.
Despite assurances by Health Minister Greg Hunt that the progression of the vaccine was well under way, the Australian Government is unlikely to start immunising health workers and the elderly until at least March.
(31.12.2020)
The Australian government could grant final approval for the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine by late January, according to AstraZeneca Australia.
A spokesperson for the company told SBS World News that the federal government has indicated the vaccine could get final approval by January 31, with a roll out in March.
Everyone can see what a serious emergency this is. We have to act. Bin the bureaucracy, and get this miracle vaccine to work right now.
(18 August 2020)
Amid rising pressure to lock in supply of a coronavirus vaccine, the Government has signed an agreement with UK-based drug company AstraZeneca to secure the potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University, if its trials prove successful.
Australia has secured 53.8 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, most of which could be manufactured locally by CSL. The federal government has also ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which will all have to be imported.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Monday he expects Australia to be „fully vaccinated“ against coronavirus by October next year.
The approval by UK government is a good news for India because as per sources, the government was waiting for this approval and it is expected that Indian regulators would call SEC meet soon and reconsider the data and approve AstraZeneca vaccine for its use in India.
The Government has today accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK, with the first doses due to be given on Monday amid rising coronavirus cases.
Government sources have indicated an announcement later will see more areas move into tier four – „stay at home“.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is due to detail the changes – which could be introduced within days – in the House of Commons after 14:30 GMT.
(23.12.2020)
(28.11.2020)
Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust who advises Number 10’s advisory panel Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said: „We’re not going to be free of this pandemic by February, this is now a human endemic infection.
Calum Semple, professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), described the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as a “game changer” if it is approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the coming days.
But he told BBC Breakfast…
The Oxford/AstraZeneca jab could be approved early next week by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), after the final cut of data was submitted by the Government last Monday.
(23.12.2020)
Government sources say that between 12 million and 15 million people have been identified as likely to require hospital treatment if they contract coronavirus, or be at risk of dying from it. Once this group has received the vaccine – which some officials hope could be achieved by the end of February – then the NHS would no longer be at risk of being overwhelmed if the virus spread through the greater population. That would remove the main argument for shutting the economy at a stroke.
A source said: ‚The path to liberation is finally becoming clear.‘
„We have seen the best of British at every stage, from our world-leading scientists working around the clock to carry out vital research, to builders and engineers constructing new facilities.
“Manufacturers are boosting their capabilities and hundreds of thousands of people in every corner of the UK are taking part in clinical trials — developing, finding and preparing for a vaccine has involved us all.
“It has and continues to be a truly UK-wide effort and one which showcases what a fantastic nation we are.”
(28.11.2020)
(21.12.2020)
The Government is aiming for two million people to receive their first dose of either the Oxford vaccine or the Pfizer jab within a fortnight as part of a major ramping up of the inoculation programme.
(today)
A fourth case had been discovered in an Israeli who had not been abroad recently. The Health Ministry said they are investigating the case and will update accordingly.
„Over the past few days we are making a concerted effort to check that the mutation from Britain has not infiltrated [Israel]. Until several minutes ago, we had been optimistic, and now we are less optimistic,“ Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said.
(29.08.2020)
Most tests set the limit at 40, a few at 37. This means that you are positive for the coronavirus if the test process required up to 40 cycles, or 37, to detect the virus.
Tests with thresholds so high may detect not just live virus but also genetic fragments, leftovers from infection that pose no particular risk — akin to finding a hair in a room long after a person has left, Dr. Mina said.
Any test with a cycle threshold above 35 is too sensitive, agreed Juliet Morrison, a virologist at the University of California, Riverside. “I’m shocked that people would think that 40 could represent a positive,” she said.
– Blood samples unveiled this week show people in California, Oregon and Washington infected in December
– Further tests on blood taken in mid-to-late December and into early January found virus in six more states
– Italy, Brazil and France have all since found traces of the virus before China even acknowledged it existed
– Evidence has emerged in Spain and the UK suggesting that Covid-19 was around before testing was possible
– Claims the virus emerged in a market in Wuhan last winter have crumbled in the face of scientific evidence
Today’s comments fly in the face of Mr Johnson, who this week railed against “sneak” culture.
The Prime Minister urged Brits not to snitch on their neighbours unless they are having “Animal House parties” with “hot tubs and so forth”.
Meetings today are going on to make a decision, health secretary confirms.
The United States, European Union, Canada and Switzerland, home to some of the world’s biggest food companies, have pressed Mexico to delay upcoming health warnings on processed food and drinks, a World Trade Organization document showed.
Dr Jason Oke and Professor Carl Heneghan said figures from Public Health England — which are published each day by the Department of Health — contained ‚inaccuracies‘ and could cause confusion.
Deaths are still falling, the professors said, even if at a slower rate than they were earlier in the crisis.
(29.06.2020)
Congressman Doggett has been seeking information from both Secretary Azar and Gilead on remdesivir pricing for almost two months. Neither disclosed the huge taxpayer expenditure that the Trump Administration is making today to purchase remdesivir supplies through September. Copies of related correspondence are available upon request.
±400,000 patients had symptomatic influenza in the period between the beginning of October until the end of May.
±11,000 hospitalisations Many people were admitted to hospital with flu complications, such as pneumonia.
FLU VACCINE About half of the people who were eligible to receive a flu vaccination were vaccinated against flu.
2,900 more people than expected died during the epidemic period. These extra deaths were associated with the flu epidemic.
Current numbers COVID-19: 22 June 2020
Positive tested persons: 49,658* (+69)
Admitted to hospital: 11,851 (+2)
Reported deaths: 6,090** (+0)
Many states, including New York, came under fire for a policy requiring nursing homes to admit COVID-19 positive patients. Data shows that Minnesota now has 81.4% of deaths from long term care facilities and assisted living centers.
Minnesota’s Department of Health did so to lower the risk of overwhelming hospitals with COVID-19 patients.
“It was the single dumbest decision anyone could make if they wanted to kill people,” Daniel Arbeeny said of the directive, which prompted him to pull his 88-year-old father out of a Brooklyn nursing home where more than 50 people have died. His father later died of COVID-19 at home.
Petition and email campaigns warned introducing COVID patients to nursing homes put vulnerable residents at risk.
Cuomo rescinded the order on May 10, and this week blamed the original policy on the Trump administration.
“Why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes?” said the governor. “It’s because the state followed President Trump’s CDC guidelines.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Georgia Department of Health said it would remove the antibody testing data from the diagnostic data, although it had been following the current CDC guidance on the reporting data.
Thursday, Toomey addressed the issue during a state news conference.
“I’m actually am grateful that the media are looking at this closely because often you can recognize things that I did not see, or there are some inconsistencies that I didn’t notice,” Toomey said.
As of May 16, the state had performed close to 700,000 COVID-19 tests, according to the Florida Department of Health; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Florida had conducted more than 900,000 COVID-19 tests.
With a 33% difference between the two agencies, Florida is one of 10 states to report such large discrepancies in testing numbers, with Florida being the most extreme case, according to an analysis by The COVID Tracking Project, which compared cases, deaths and testing numbers reported by each state and by the CDC’s Data Tracker.
This is not merely a technical error. States have set quantitative guidelines for reopening their economies based on these flawed data points.
Several states—including Pennsylvania, the site of one of the country’s largest outbreaks, as well as Texas, Georgia, and Vermont—are blending the data in the same way. Virginia likewise mixed viral and antibody test results until last week, but it reversed course and the governor apologized for the practice after it was covered by the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Atlantic. Maine similarly separated its data on Wednesday; Vermont authorities claimed they didn’t even know they were doing this.
The CDC combines the results of genetic tests that spot people who are actively infected, mostly by using a process known as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, with results from another, known as serology testing, which looks for antibodies in people’s blood. Antibody testing is used to identify people who were previously infected.
We share the common goal of preserving public confidence in systems that can help make us all safer. Therefore, before the NHS continues its plans, we urge you to provide the public with more information and take appropriate measures to reduce risk of data sharing and keep the aggregated data under democratic control.
In March, the NHS announced a new plan to build a datastore that aggregates COVID-19 health data. Microsoft, Google, Palantir, Faculty and Amazon will assist in the development of the datastore and the processing of the data.
(yesterday)
In an open letter directly addressed to the health secretary, civil society organisations, privacy advocates and academic researchers urged Hancock to give the public more information about the datastore and take appropriate measures to reduce data-sharing risks and keep it under democratic control.
Coronavirus is likely to result in a high mortality rate in care homes, England’s chief medical officer has said.
Chris Whitty said it was hard to prevent deaths in care homes „sadly because this is a very vulnerable group“.
Current statistics were likely to be an „underestimate“, he added.
Dr Viz and Dr Joshi said: „Every time a healthcare worker becomes hospitalised with Covid-19, it exacts an extraordinary toll on our friends, family and colleagues. To sedate and ventilate your own colleague takes a mental toll on the entire workforce.
„The Government owes an apology to these bereaved families, many of whom were unable to be with their loved ones in their dying moments. Their trauma and grief is unimaginable – we want to ensure that no other family has to endure this suffering.
(22.04.2020)
Sally Copley, Director of Policy, Campaigns and Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Society, said:
“The true impact of the coronavirus in care homes is becoming increasingly clear, and that’s why we’re demanding swift Government action. With the further report today of a possible 2000 deaths just over Easter weekend, this is a frightening time for everyone with relatives with dementia in care homes. People with dementia’s lives matter, and every death is a terrible loss to a grieving family.
“We hear daily from desperately concerned families who want to know that the Government is doing all it can to keep people in care homes safe, and it is good to hear that the CQC is actively booking testing appointments for care staff.
(today)
Katz praised the work of Jerusalem’s diplomatic mission in Tokyo, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Health Ministry for „having successfully brought this groundbreaking research to Israel.“
The private cellphone of Health Minister Yaakov Litzman was tracked after he was suspected of flouting social distancing guidelines despite testing positive for the coronavirus, Israeli health officials said on Friday.
In an interview with Bild newspaper (link in German), federal health minister Jens Spahn said that there “are early indications that certain medications seem to help,” and that there were ongoing studies in Germany into what drugs could potentially work in treating coronavirus, “including with this old malaria drug.”
He added that more studies are needed as all drugs have side effects. However, he expects an effective drug to treat COVID-19 to come on the market much earlier than a vaccine.
(20.03.2020)