Tag Archives: VACCINATION

Britain almost reaches collective immunity from coronavirus

The UK will achieve collective immunity from the coronavirus in the coming days-but under current security measures.

According to SkyNews, this was stated by scientists at University College London.

The real-time simulations they are running indicate that very soon on April 12-the percentage of people in Britain already protected from the virus through vaccination or a previous illness or innate immunity will reach 73.4%.

It is believed that this indicator is already sufficient for collective immunity, and the disease will begin to recede.

“It’s like a chain reaction. If the virus is not able to spread from one person to another, it simply “dies out”, — says Professor Carl Fryston.

However, according to him, it is still too early to relax vigilance and speed up the exit from quarantine at this stage.

“This is just another significant stage, a reflection of the fact that things are going as planned. And this suggests that it is unlikely that there will be an increase in the number of hospitalizations or deaths again after the summer or autumn, “ said Carl Fryston. “But this does not mean that we can suddenly change the approach to “opening up” the country and maintaining distance.”

He explained that the threshold of collective immunity depends, among other things, on the risk of spreading the virus, and the risks depend on security measures, such as maintaining a distance.

If people abruptly return to the life they were accustomed to before the pandemic, the risks of transmission of the virus will rise again and the threshold required for collective immunity will be higher.

“Therefore, it is necessary to remove the restrictions very gradually, depending on the situation… This is a process for weeks and months, “ the professor said.

In Britain, almost 32 million people have already received the first dose of the vaccine. This is more than half of the adult population of the country. 6 million people have already been vaccinated with both doses.

It is worth noting that while the next” wave “ of the epidemic began in all European countries in early spring, in Britain, after the peak in January, the daily increase in infections is steadily decreasing.

In March, the country usually registered about 6,000 cases. Since the beginning of April, almost all indicators are less than 4 thousand.

In Austria, the number of deaths after vaccination against COVID-19 increased

In Austria, during the vaccination campaign, the number of deaths after vaccination against coronavirus increased from 55 to 63.

According to the Federal Agency for Health Safety, 57 people died after being vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.

Three deaths were recorded after the Moderna vaccination and three more after AstraZeneca.

At the same time, experts say that the connection of deaths with the used vaccines has not been established. Non-vaccine-related health complications can occur among the most vulnerable older populations.

Now the question of whether there is a link between deaths and vaccines are being studied in detail.

Also recently, we wrote that in Hong Kong, two people who suffered from chronic diseases died after being vaccinated against coronavirus.

Also, a woman from Slovakia died shortly after she was vaccinated against coronavirus with a drug from AstraZeneca.

The Austrian Chancellor spoke about the possibility of registering Sputnik V

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus infection COVID-19 “Sputnik V” can be registered in Vienna at the national level if the approval process at the EU level takes too long.

He announced this during a live broadcast on Instagram.

“Of course, there is an opportunity to do this at the national level, if it takes too long at the European level,” Kurz said.

Kurz noted that all procedures at the European Medicines Agency take a very long time. In his opinion, including in this regard, Europe lags behind in the issue of vaccination from the United States and Great Britain.

Earlier, the Austrian Chancellor said that the government of the country in the coming days will discuss with doctors the possibility of self-registration of the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus “Sputnik V”.

EU Regulator Confirms AstraZeneca Side Effect

The European Medicines Agency’s Safety Committee has concluded that the formation of unusual blood clots in combination with a low platelet count should be included in the list of very rare side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

This is stated in the press release of the EU regulator, published on Wednesday.

At the same time, according to the regulator, the benefits of using the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh the risks.

In reaching this conclusion, the committee took into account all the evidence currently available, including the recommendations of the ad hoc expert group.

“The EMA reminds health professionals and people who receive the vaccine of the possibility of very rare cases of blood clots in combination with low platelet levels within two weeks of vaccination,” the EU regulator said in a statement.

The regulator noted that at the moment, the majority of reported cases of thrombosis occurred in women under the age of 60 years within two weeks after vaccination. However, based on the currently available data, specific risk factors have not been confirmed.

People who have received the vaccine are advised by the regulator to seek immediate medical attention if they develop symptoms of this combination of blood clots and low platelet levels.

The EMA Committee noted that blood clots in vaccinated patients formed in the veins of the brain (cerebral venous sinus thrombosis) and the abdominal cavity (internal vein thrombosis), and in the arteries, along with low platelet levels, sometimes with bleeding.

At the same time, the EMA notes that the combination of blood clots and low platelet counts is very rare, and the overall benefits of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risks of side effects.

A likely explanation for the combination of blood clots and low platelet levels is an immune response, leading to a condition similar to that sometimes seen in patients treated with heparin, the regulator notes.

The EMA Committee has requested new studies and amendments to the current ones to provide more information and promises to take any further action necessary.

So far, the EMA has recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine as safe and pointed to the lack of evidence of a link between the vaccine and blood clots. However, several EU countries, including Germany, have restricted the use of the vaccine.

In early March, dozens of European countries suspended the use of the vaccine due to such reports, but after the conclusion of the EU regulator, they mostly resumed vaccinations.

The UK suspends AstraZeneca vaccine trials in children

The reason is the detection of cases of blood clots in vaccinated adults.

According to Sky News, the developers of the drug are currently awaiting additional information from the British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority.

The first and second phase of trials of the vaccine among children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years started in the United Kingdom on February 13. It should be attended by 300 people.

Today, the European medicines regulator EMA reported that there is a link between the formation of blood clots after vaccination with a coronavirus drug from AstraZeneca.