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Author : Dr K Aggarwal President CMAAO, HCFI, With input from Dr Monica Vasudev
India
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New Delhi, March 16, 2021 :
The U.S. is holding onto tens of millions of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine doses in manufacturing facilities as scientists wait on clinical trial data to indicate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, according to The New York Times. The AstraZeneca vaccine has been authorized in more than 70 countries, the company reported, but the U.S. clinical trial hasn’t yet reported data or applied for FDA authorization.
A new survey that assessed the mental health impact of COVID-19 across the globe shows high rates of trauma and clinical mood disorders related to the pandemic. The survey, carried out by Sapien Labs, was conducted in eight English-speaking countries and included 49,000 adults. It showed that 57% of respondents experienced some COVID-19-related adversity or trauma. Roughly one quarter showed clinical signs of or were at risk for a mood disorder, and only 40% described themselves as “succeeding or thriving.”
The Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating cases of thromboembolic events related to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, but says the benefits currently still outweigh risks. As of March 10, 30 cases of thromboembolic events had been reported among nearly 5 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the European Economic Area, which includes European Union (EU) countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
NYT: Germany, France and Italy became the latest countries to suspend the Covid-19 vaccine from Oxford-AstraZeneca, citing reports of unusual blood clotting problems among a few people who recently received the shots in Norway. Denmark, Iceland, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia and the Netherlands have also suspended AstraZeneca vaccinations.
Germany’s health ministry cited the advice of the national health regulator in its decision to suspend the vaccine, though global health officials have cautioned that millions of people have received it without any problems. So far, there is no evidence of a causal link between clotting and the vaccine, with investigations from the European Medicines Agency and other regulators still underway.
By contrast, Thailand said that it would resume distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha among the first to receive it.
Third wave: Europe is facing a third wave of infections, with Italy imposing strict new restrictions and France considering doing the same. Hungary’s prime minister predicted hospitals this week would be at their most overwhelmed since the start of the pandemic. The spread of coronavirus variants and slow vaccination rates are among the likely factors.
Novavax Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine was 96% effective in preventing cases caused by the original version of the coronavirus in a late-stage trial conducted in the United Kingdom, the company said on Thursday, moving it a step closer to regulatory approval. There were no cases of severe illness or deaths among those who got the vaccine, the company said, in a sign that it could stop the worse effects of new variants that have cropped up. The vaccine was 86% effective in protecting against the more contagious B.1.1.7 virus variant first discovered in, and now prevalent, in the United Kingdom, for a combined 90% effectiveness rate overall based on data from infections of both versions of the coronavirus.
Former COVID-19 patients may need only one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine to get the effect of two doses. The disease itself may “prime the body” to produce the antibodies seen with the two-dose regimen, according to an exploratory study reported at the virtual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections that examined titer levels of antibodies in patients who had COVID-19 and those who did not.
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