FORUM

I have come across this article, which I think is worth sharing:

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/02/1 ... ost-lives/

I am a 70 year old male whose primary residence is in the UK. I had the Oxford / AstraZeneca jab a couple of weeks ago. I had no choice which vaccine I received. Frankly, I was grateful to receive whatever I was given. At the same time, I was given an appointment to receive the second dose in 3 months time. By that time, there will, of course, be much more information on the relative effectiveness of the different vaccines and the UK strategy generally.

I had no side effects; no sore arm; no flu-like symptoms; no headache.

I have a daughter who works on the front-line in the NHS and a son-in-law who is a children's social worker visiting the homes of at risk children. They have both received the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, similarly, with no ill effects. All vaccines are a scarce resource and if the Pfizer vaccine is the better one, compared to the Oxford / AstraZeneca, and who truthfully knows yet, I am just glad that they have got it rather than me.

Hi Alan

There is a lot of 'opinion' online about everything to do with the virus. You should be aware that Spiked "was founded in 2000 after the bankruptcy of its predecessor, the Revolutionary Communist Party's Living Marxism" according to Wiki at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiked_(magazine). If you have seen its editor Brendan O'Neill on Sky News' press reviews, you will have a good idea of the sort of 'opinions' it espouses.

We are all in favour of a 'free press' but you have to investigate who is writing what you read (and who its owners/shareholders are) in order to make a judgement of its objectivity and accuracy.

Yours,
Ted & Jemima
http://findinglanguedoc.com

There is a lot of confusion over the different types of vaccine and their efficacy. What is usually quoted is the percentage efficiency at reducing transmission of the virus. That seems to be only about 60% for the Oxford vaccine however trials have shown that no one has been hospitalised with covid after 22 days from the first dose. By contrast the Pfizer one gives about 95% reduction in transmission but again almost complete protection against severe covid for the person vaccinated.

I do think the French government are misguided in not allowing us over 65s to have the Oxford one for our own protection.

As an aside, we have been trying to get an appointment for the jab every day since the website opened and eventually got our appointments for the Pfizer jab for 19th March.

Russell

Yes, I was aware of the origins of “Spiked”. I read the press widely and perhaps therefore I may be allowed to quote now from this article in today's “Times” written by Tom Whipple, Science Editor,

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ques ... -dkw9qj8xt

as follows:

“In Germany vials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are reportedly unused as people skip appointments. In France, where President Macron wrongly stated that the vaccine was ineffective in the elderly, public health officials are also worried about take up. There are signs that the elderly want Pfizer-BioN Tech instead.

For vaccine researchers this is, understandably infuriating. As Mike Ryan, the World Health Organisation's health emergencies director, put it, for now the best vaccine is the one you can get into your arm. More than that, what matters for individuals is stopping severe disease – and the signs are that all vaccines are equally good at that”.

At the outset of the article the question posed is, “Do you prefer good old-fashioned inactivated virus? Protein subunits? Messenger RNA? Adenovirus vectors?” It ends that it may not be a competition to find the best vaccine for the world but to find the best vaccine for you. And there will be many winners”.

I was personally very happy to get the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and simply wanted to share my experience for the benefit of others. The more people who get vaccinated all over the world, the more chance that travel will re-open and, selfishly, I shall be able to visit our second home in PV.

For what it's worth I had my first jab at Argeles last week. When I booked on-line the only vaccine on offer was Pfizer. But when I arrived they were using Pfizer or Moderna.

The only after effect was a slight pain in the injection site but this is no different from when I have the regular flu jab. My second dose is scheduled in four weeks time.

Gus

Looks as if a change in the use of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine for the elderly is imminent

https://www.politico.eu/article/french- ... e-elderly/

I also understand that the President has now said he would have it if offered to him

Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines reduce severe COVID-19 in older adults.

See the “expert” reaction to Public Health England study published today


https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expe ... rtality-i/

Emmanuel Macron has claimed that France will catch up with Britain on vaccinations 'in a few weeks'. 

He must be talking about completed vaccinations because here is a table showing global figures for first dose (left) and completed (right)

  https://twitter.com/DaveKeating/status/ ... 7508854784  

Someone has responded on twitter that "under the EU's authorisation mechanism for export. UK is supplying raw materials to the EU and UK's full vaccine rate is no better than many EU countries. Therefore EU cannot block export of vax to UK under their own principles".

Whatever, the sooner everyone is vaccinated the better.

I get my second Astra jab in the UK today and am very grateful for getting it. Here is a very sad video from a French doctor who has had to throw away unused supply to his practice

https://twitter.com/vogt_patrick/status ... 8937982977

If the French and other Europeans do not want this vaccine they should donate their existing stock to India and also abandon their claim against the manufacturers for more.

As a retired lawyer, I am very interested in the litigation between the European Commission and AstraZeneca AB, a Swedish Company which is subject to Belgian law and has a first hearing in the Belgian Courts tomorrow. There is a lot of information on the internet including a redacted version of the actual contract. Some of it is informed but a lot isn't.

I can see absolutely nothing good coming out of this litigation.The people who negotiated on behalf of he Europen Commission knew exactly what they were signing up to as appears in this article https://www.politico.eu/article/belgium ... uments/ers for more.

The link may not have worked -try thishttps://www.politico.eu/article/belgium-was-war ... documents/

The Belgian Court has now given it's decision in the first action which the EU has taken against AstraZeneca. Both sides are claiming victory but clearly nothing of value was to be gained from this litigation and hopefully the EU will not think it appropriate to continue with its second action See https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 8/?rpc=401&

I found this a really interesting article in today's Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... saving-jab

Obviously there has been very good news about the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. “A big question now is whether these answers will extrapolate to the mRNA vaccines” (Prof Danny Altmann).


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... eeks-study