Covid: AstraZeneca vaccine 79% effective with no increased blood clot risk - US trial

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness in a large trial in the US, Chile and Peru, the company said on Monday, paving the way for it to apply for US approval.

The vaccine was 100% effective against severe or critical disease and hospitalisation and was safe, the drugmaker said on Monday, releasing results of the late-stage human trial study of more than 32,000 volunteers across all age groups.

The data will give credence to the British vaccine after results from earlier, separate late-stage studies raised questions about the robustness of the data.

It will also help allay safety concerns that have disrupted its use in the EU after a small number of reports of rare blood clots in people who had received the jab.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/22/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-79-effective-with-no-increased-blood-clot-risk-us-trial

[OnDoutside]

1. YouGov published a poll showing very low trust levels in the EU

towards Astrazeneca. They have consistently been bad faith actors. I should also state that it looks like I will be offered the Astrazeneca vaccine in the next few weeks or so, and while I will take it, I'm not happy about it. I'd much prefer one of the others like Pfizer and Moderna.

[JI7]

2. Is there some history there which makes them not trusting of it?

[Loki Liesmith]

3. Here at DU we trust the science

Unless we don’t

[soothsayer]

4. Thought a German study just showed something blood clot related

[LisaL]

6. I believe that was just a theory.

NT

[soothsayer]

7. Aha! They found a link but it's rare

https://www.wsj.com/articles/scientists-say-they-found-cause-of-blood-clotting-linked-to-astrazeneca-vaccine-11616169108

Scientists Say They Found Cause of Rare Blood Clotting Linked to AstraZeneca Vaccine

German, Norwegian researchers say rare autoimmune reaction is behind several cases of brain blood clotting, and suggest a possible treatment for it

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. The "bad faith" accusation seems to be about the contract with the EU

which still hasn't been made public, as far as I can see, so it's hard to take an informed stance on it. And that doesn't affect the actual vaccine.

[soothsayer]

8. It's a thing, but a rare thing

Scientists Say They Found Cause of Rare Blood Clotting Linked to AstraZeneca Vaccine

German, Norwegian researchers say rare autoimmune reaction is behind several cases of brain blood clotting, and suggest a possible treatment for it

[TexasBushwhacker]

9. I wonder if the people who got clots had other autoimmune diseases

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. That's not "bad faith", though

As far as blood clotting problems go, everyone agrees you're more at risk from not having the AZ vaccine, because there's then the chance you'll get Covid, which can cause clotting problems, than having the vaccine. Plus there are other ways of dying from Covid.

[lagomorph777]

13. +1

[OnDoutside]

15. It's not just the contract, which was a slashing of the promised 100m doses to just 30m, and then

when they then promised on two subsequent occasions a definite quantity to be delivered, they cut back on delivery on even those numbers. After all that, there was the doubt as to whether over 55s should be given the vaccine and then the question about blood clots. It's just one more thing after they landed the EU in the shit. Any hiccup at this stage, only worsens the EU-Astrazeneca relationship. They committed the EU to their order knowing that they had signed an agreement with the British Government not to export any UK manufactured vaccine until their population was vaccinated.

The current dispute centres on the Astrazeneca getting 10m doses in a 3rd party manufacturer based in Leiden (NL) called Halix. The EU are threatening to ban the export of those vaccines to the UK.

It should be noted that to date,

The EU have EXPORTED 42m doses worldwide including the UK
The US have EXPORTED 4m doses worldwide
The UK have EXPORTED 0 doses

[IronLionZion]

10. EU approves things faster than the US FDA

so they've also approved the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines while the FDA has given it emergency use authorization but not full approval yet.

[womanofthehills]

14. European Scientists Zero In On AstraZeneca Blood Clot Link

Two teams of European scientists, working independently, say they believe they've identified the cause of a rare blood clotting condition that has occurred in some people after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
If correct, their research could mean any blood clots that occur could be easily treated.

There were reports earlier this month of roughly 30 blood clots occurring after vaccination, a few of them fatal. This led more than a dozen European countries to suspend their use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Most countries resumed using it, however, after the European Medicines Agency conducted an investigation and declared on Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective. The EMA said the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the potential risks — and pointed out that the rate of post-vaccine blood clots was actually lower than the expected rate in the general population.

Now, a group of German researchers, led by professor Andreas Greinacher at the University of Greifswald, said on Friday in a statement that they believe the AstraZeneca vaccine, in some cases, prompts overactivation of platelets in the blood, which can then cause potentially deadly clots. They said it's similar to what happens with a condition called heparin-induced thrombocytopenia.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/21/979781065/european-scientists-zero-in-on-astrazeneca-blood-clot-link

[Curtis]

12. This is Good News

My wife suffered a stroke 25 years ago due to medical error from ignoring a blood clotting disorder. Her family (well me too) have been concerned about this vaccine and specifically this vaccine because we have been in Grenada, which is extremely good at handling the outbreak, since Feb 2020. We want things in the US to calm down AND we want a vaccine before getting on a plane back to California. And, the AstraZeneca vaccine is the only vaccine Grenada has available.

She is still going to contact her hematologist in California today to make sure her existing condition doesn't throw any kind of increased danger from ANY vaccine but especially this one regardless of a news article. Just for an extra piece of mind.

So, this will be one tick from the box of getting back home. Now if all Americans would play nice and keep wearing masks and such (ain't gonna happen). We're also concerned with the loosening of restrictions and rules in the face of the 4th wave? or is this new one only the 3rd wave? Anyway, we've been very lucky to be in a country where everyone pulls together and does what is expected of them for the health and safety of the nation

[Eugene]

16. U.S. health body questions robustness of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine trial data

Source: Reuters

RACE FOR A CURE
MARCH 23, 2021 12:49 AM UPDATED 21 MINUTES AGO

U.S. health body questions robustness of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine trial data

By Miyoung Kim
4 MIN READ

(Reuters) - AstraZeneca Plc may have provided an incomplete view of efficacy data on its COVID-19 vaccine from a large scale trial in the United States, a U.S. health agency said Tuesday, in a fresh setback for the shot.

The concerns throw into question whether the British drugmaker can seek U.S. emergency use authorization for the vaccine in the coming weeks as planned, and come just one day after interim data from the trial had shown better-than-expected results.

The vaccine developed with Oxford University was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness in the large trial that also took place in Chile and Peru, according to the data. It was also 100% effective against severe or critical forms of the disease and hospitalisation and posed no increased risk of blood clots.

The Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), an independent committee overseeing the trial, has “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said in a statement.

NIAID is headed by U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci and is part of the National Institutes of Health.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-astrazeneca-u-s/u-s-health-body-questions-robustness-of-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine-trial-data-idUSKBN2BF0CV

[Sgent]

17. This is.... damning

AZ given their past screwups should have waited for publication instead of press release. When Fauci says you cooked the books...