Category: Vaccine

By Michael Head for The Conversation

Southampton: A large outbreak of pertussis (more commonly known as whooping cough) has been ongoing in the UK since the beginning of 2024. There have been 2,793 confirmed cases so far this year. Sadly, five infant deaths due to whooping cough have been confirmed, with unconfirmed reports that a sixth infant may have died in the last week of the bacterial infection.

This is a stark reminder that whooping cough is a very nasty infection. While the symptoms are usually mild in healthy older children and adults, it can be lethal for babies.

Globally, there are an estimated 24 million cases of whooping cough each year and around 160,000 deaths.

Whooping cough is caused by a bacteria called Bordetella pertussis. Pertussis often begins like most other respiratory infections, with typical symptoms including a runny nose and a fever. The distinctive whoop cough may only appear after a week or so of illness though it does not occur in all cases. As such, confirming cases of whooping cough may require a laboratory test.

Whooping cough is very infectious. On average, a single case of pertussis can transmit infection on to around 15-17 other people. This infection rate is similar to measles and higher than the Covid variants.

The reason whooping cough is so infectious is in part due to pertussis having a very long infectious period of up to five weeks where infected people can pass the bacteria on to others. Prompt treatment can greatly reduce transmission antibiotics shown to reduce contagiousness just five days after starting treatment.

But prior to treatment, there are plenty of opportunities for transmission to occur and for an outbreak to be maintained. Both confirmed and asymptomatic cases can be responsible for onward transmission of whooping cough.

Why have cases spiked?

One slightly curious aspect of whooping cough is that there are big outbreaks typically every few years. The last sizeable outbreak in the UK was in 2016 with almost 6,000 confirmed cases. The reasons for these cycles are not fully understood, but a key factor is probably waning immunity at the population level.

The immunity from the pertussis vaccine is initially very protective, but it does decline a few years after the initial vaccination. This is why a consistently high vaccine uptake across the population is vital.

The vaccine is very safe and effective. Vaccinating young children and pregnant women some of the most vulnerable groups within the population is particularly crucial for preventing infection and illness.

Children who are fully vaccinated are 84 per cent less likely to get a confirmed whooping cough infection compared to those who werent vaccinated. Vaccines not only prevent young children from becoming unwell vaccines also lower the risk of children transmitting the infection onto young siblings, family members and friends.

Immunisation during pregnancy is also particularly important as the antibodies the mother gets from the vaccine protects the newborn in their first few weeks of life before the baby is themselves old enough to receive their first pertussis vaccine dose. A dose during pregnancy prevents around 78 per cent of pertussis cases in newborn babies.

But vaccine coverage has dropped in recent years. Maternal vaccine uptake was 70 per cent in 2017, but only 58 per cent in 2023.

The percentage of children vaccinated by their first birthday dropped slightly from around 93 per cent just prior to the pandemic to 92 per cent in 2022-2023. A similar drop (from 85 per cent to 83 per cent) is seen with the booster dose children can have prior to their fifth birthday. This drop in coverage may be contributing to the current outbreak.

While one publication has suggested the outbreak is probably a surge fuelled by lockdown, theres no evidence to support this assertion.

This kind of messaging isnt helpful as it doesnt raise awareness or educate the public on the things they can do to prevent the spread of whooping cough. Given that peoples health-related behaviour can be significantly impacted by the news they read, high-profile media sources have a responsibility to report accurate information.

The sheer extent of the pandemic may have affected access to healthcare and vaccination rates, resulting in a drop of the population-wide immunity needed to prevent severe outbreaks. Geographical variations in vaccine uptake might also be a contributing factor though, at the time of writing, there isnt any data available on case numbers by UK region.

To control the current outbreak, widespread use of antibiotics to treat or prevent pertussis infections will probably be used. If anyone suspects they have whooping cough, they should speak to their doctor as soon as possible not only because of the severity of the illness, but because prompt treatment reduces persons infectious period.

While UK guidance does not routinely recommend a pertussis vaccine in adults, an extra dose is known to be safe and effective. This may be advised for people who have come in close contact with someone who has whooping cough. It may also be important for people who could be vulnerable to a severe infection such as the elderly.

Ultimately, whooping cough is an infection that can be prevented by vaccines. The grim news of infant fatalities in the UK reminds us all that there are very good reasons why immunisation is recommended. And, in the longer-term, outbreaks can be minimised in both the number of cases and the severity of cases by maintaining a high vaccine coverage.

Access to vaccination, as well as accurate information about the small risks and significant benefits, is going to be key in bringing the outbreak under control.

(Michael Head is a Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton)

Published 15 May 2024, 08:48 IST

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Why is whooping cough surging in the UK? Falling vaccination rates may be the answer - Deccan Herald

By Christy Santhosh and Pratik Jain

(Reuters) -The U.S. drug regulator has declined to approve expanded use of Dynavax Technologies' hepatitis B vaccine in a section of patients, citing insufficient data over destruction of some trial documents, the company said on Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration in its so-called "complete response letter" stated that the data it had was insufficient owing to destruction of data source documents by the third-party clinical trial site operator for about half of the subjects enrolled in the trial, according to the company.

Dynavax and the FDA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for details on the destruction of trial documents.

Shares of the California-based vaccine maker were down about 2% in early trading.

Hepatitis B virus can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and even death. It spreads through sexual contact, sharing needles or syringes and from mother to baby during pregnancy.

Dynavax's vaccine, Heplisav-B, was first approved by the FDA in 2017, having been rejected twice before, in 2013 and 2016, over unresolved safety concerns.

Citizens JMP analyst Roy Buchanan said the data destruction "sounds like a mistake at the vendor" and is "not terribly serious" to risk a pullback of the vaccine from the market.

Dynavax's application for expanded approval was based on an early stage trial with 119 adults with end-stage kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis, the process of purifying blood using a machine and a special filter.

After four doses of the vaccine, it showed an immune protection rate of 89.3% from the virus.

But the FDA deemed the total number of subjects in Dynavax's single-arm early stage study to be insufficient to evaluate the safety of the four-dose regimen, the company said.

The agency's decision has no impact on the approved indication for the vaccine in the U.S. for the prevention of infection caused by all known subtypes of hepatitis B virus in adults 18 years of age and older.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shilpi Majumdar)

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US FDA declines expanded use of Dynavax's hepatitis B vaccine on insufficient data - AOL

In October 2023, Katalin Karik, PhD and Drew Weissman, PhD won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work with messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), which laid the foundation for COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

mRNA therapies and vaccines have revolutionised the drug development space in the last few years thanks to breakthroughs in advanced research. Now, only a few years after the first mRNA vaccine was authorised, the mRNA approach may soon be trumped by circular RNA (circRNA).

CircRNA is a type of single-stranded RNA that, unlike linear RNA, forms a covalently closed continuous loop. In circular RNA, the 3 and 5 ends that are normally present in an RNA molecule are joined together.

mRNA vaccines will be key in preventing and treating diseases in the future, but expensive manufacturing, requirements for cold-chain storage, and difficulties in transporting make their use complicated. In such circumstances, circRNA could step in and take its place.

Alex Wesselhoeft, PhD, director of RNA Therapeutics at the Gene and Cell Therapy Institute, Mass General Brigham, says it is still early days with circRNA, but based on preclinical research, these candidates could be even better than mRNA therapies.

It took mRNA 30 years to become what it is. In terms of just what the technology can do however, [circRNA] could be mRNA 2.0, Wesselhoeft explains.

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The closed loop structure of circRNA could make more stable, longer lasting vaccine candidates compared to linear-based mRNA. Additionally, these advantages could also mean that less of the genetic material is required with circRNA, meaning that more vaccines could be effective as single doses and patients could suffer fewer adverse events since lower quantities of the active ingredient would be needed.

Nikolaus Rajewsky, PhD, who runs the circRNA lab at the Max Delbrck Centre for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, says a number of big companies are building a pipeline of circRNA candidates. At the same time, he says, We also understand very little still about circRNAs despite having had many papers published. The problem here is the bigger insights are always difficult.

Erik Wiklund, CEO, Circio Holding, a biotech investigating circRNA as therapeutics, says it will take some time but he is also hopeful circRNA could be the next big breakthrough in the RNA field. Circio is exploring the possibilities of a universal flu vaccination; however, as most of the big pharma companies investigating circRNA are focusing on its potential in vaccines, Wiklund said that the team at Circio decided to focus most of its efforts on the therapeutics field.

We believe that we can make a massive improvement on adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy, Wiklund explains. Almost all gene therapies approved today are based on the AAV virus but the big caveat is that you need to give really high doses when you express the gene of interest using mRNA. Moreover, safety problems like liver toxicities, and in some instances serious adverse events and death, are also a challenge. Using our circRNA surface technology, we anticipate that we can increase the protein output by maybe up to 100-fold, Wiklund says.

With circRNA, the candidate will contain one hundredth the amount of AAV of current therapies, therefore it is likely to have a better safety profile as well as becoming easier and cheaper to manufacture. AAVs are unable to carry a great deal of genetic material. Due to circRNA being longer-lasting due to its closed loop structure, less is required to be as effective, resulting in a reduced dose of AAV to carry the same dose capability.

Wiklund adds the company is focusing on its lead therapeutic candidate treating patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

Although therapies using circRNA will benefit heavily from the reduced dosing needs, it is not likely that these could be developed as a one-and-done type therapy such as Vertex Pharmaceuticals Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel), and multiple infusions through a patients life may be needed, he adds. Casgevy is a medicine used to treat the blood disorders beta thalassaemia and sickle cell disease in patients 12 years and older. It is the first clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) therapy to receive approval in the US, UK, and Europe.

Amid the great deal of preclinical research being conducted in circRNA, one significant discovery over the past decade has been regarding its high presence in neurons.

Research from Rajewskys lab suggests circRNA could be a potential biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, circRNAs are also found in the blood and could also be effective as a biomarker there, Rajewsky adds.

If circRNA can be utilised as a biomarker at earlier stage of disease, potentially before symptoms develop in some diseases such as Alzheimers or Parkinsons, it may become easier for drug developers to develop therapies that can better delay disease development, which would have a huge impact on healthcare.

The discovery that circRNA plays an important role in age-associated diseases, including neurodegenerative disease, cancer and diabetes, among others, allows for this structure to be utilised as a potential disease biomarker, says Anaelle Tannen, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData. This could serve as a revolutionary change in preventing old-age disease, reducing the health and socioeconomic burden on society.

Despite their discovery nearly 12 years ago, circRNA biomarkers are still not being heavily investigated, Rajewsky adds. Still, he goes on to say that circRNA biomarkers are likely to be approved before any vaccines or therapeutics.

These benefits have so far only been observed in preclinical research, so until first-in-human studies are conducted, it is difficult to say whether these will translate.

Experimenting in a clinical context is required in order to assess whether this therapeutic format will be safe and efficacious in the real world, explains Tannen. Research will also help in understanding the physiological and pathological mechanisms of circRNAs, and how these may benefit or impede human life.

Trial designs may be amended due to the individual characteristics of these candidates, but it is unlikely these trials will be significantly different from traditional trials, says Rajewsky.

One of the most likely changes in trial design will be that patients will be monitored for longer to ensure safety due to the longer acting feature of these candidates. There will also be quite a bit of investigation with dosing levels until there is a better understand of quite how efficacious these candidates can be.

I think that the first few Phase I trials will be used to guide development of the [circRNA] platform. Its not like a small molecule where you have one shot and then youre done. These are codable technologies that you can continually improve and develop, says Wesselhoeft, who expects to see some clinical results from drugs using this approach in the next two to five years.

Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Clinical Trials Arena is supported by Cytiva.

Editorial content is independently produced and follows thehighest standardsof journalistic integrity. Topic sponsors are not involved in the creation of editorial content.

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Circular RNA: Vaccines, therapeutics and biomarkers could be revolutionised - Clinical Trials Arena

Editorial Written by Carl Goldman

Brianne Dressen is our hero. Bri is vaccine injured. Before Covid, Bri was a healthy, vibrant young mom, a teacher with two young kids of her own.

Feeling patriotic she volunteered to be in the NIHs initial clinical trial of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. It almost killed her. Bris life would never be the same.

Our government and the drug company didnt just abandon Bri and the thousands of other Covid vaccine injured.

They cancelled her. Thats why most of you dont know of Bris ordeal. Bris story is a tale of politics and greed, a deadly combination.

As she struggled with her health Bri realized many others were also experiencing a life changing impact from taking any Covid vaccine.

With a group of others. Bri formed React-19, a science-based non-profit offering financial, physical, and emotional support for those suffering from long-term COVID-19 vaccine adverse events globally.

React-19 is not political. Its humanitarian.

This week, Bri became the first Covid vaccine injured victim to file a lawsuit against AstraZeneca and our government agency that abandoned her.

Bris nightmare is brilliantly told in an article written by Steven OConnor. As many of you know, Im also vaccine injured.

Not from Covid or the Covid Vaccine, but a vaccine I took 5 months before Covid hit. Like the Covid vaccine, it was artificial, not the type of vaccine I took as a kid.

My doctor kept pushing me to take it. A few weeks later, my wife and I flew to Salt Lake City. My feet fell asleepon the airplane.

They never woke up. In December 2019 I was finally admitted to UCLA hospital for one week of treatment. My neurologist informed me it would take 30 days to determine if the treatment worked.

He said, No problem taking that 16-day cruise you had scheduled to Japan. Youll be back in plenty of time.

My wife and I cruised on the infamous Diamond Princess. The Covid ship. It would take 2 months before I set foot in California again. I had a mild case of Covid.

But since Covid had not been treated before in America, I became a human Guinea pig for one month inside the CDCs bio- containment unit in Omaha, Nebraska.

My wife, Jeri, never got Covid, but was embroiled in the pandemics epicenter. The media covered us extensively. My journal became daily reading for tens of thousands.

As months progressed my vaccine injury worsened. My immune system was in hyperdrive. It wouldnt shut off. It ate away at the outer layers of the nerves on my hands and feet. It almost killed me and left me in a wheelchair for one year.

Today, Im forced to use a walker and I type with one finger, but both Bri and I are still around to tell jokes and share our stories.

The first time we were introduced to Bri, we met in a restaurant in Utah. Our permanent physical injuries were similar. So much so, my wife commented that Bri had the exact same tell-tale signs of injury that I experienced. She commented it was like looking in a mirror.

Neither of us will ever be the same. React-19 has identified over 40,000 Covid vaccine injured victims. We believe theres a 1 in 2,000 chance of a permanent injury from taking any of the Covid vaccines.

Their stories need to be told. The vaccines we had as kids, continues to play an important role in modern medicine, but the new delivery method, mRNA technology, has been shown to have widespread deleterious effects.

Were against our government, the pharmaceutical companies, and the media from hiding the truth and not revealing the risks.

As of this writing, The New York Post and Bloomberg Law posted stories about Bris lawsuit, but not the New York Times or Washington Post.

Surprised?

This editorial will receive a fraction of our normal reads because Google and Facebook will bury it.

Its critical we learn from the many mistakes made so we dont repeat the suffering.

We urge you to read Bris story and hope that her courage forces the truth to emerge.

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Santa Clarita's Connection To The First Lawsuit Filed For A Covid-19 Vaccine Injury - KHTS Radio

Other drug makers such as BioNTech and Serum Institute have also faced lawsuits in Germany and India respectively.

In the US, drug makers were given immunity from lawsuits under agreements with the government, which in turn set up a compensation scheme to pay people found to have been injured by a covered vaccine. Australia has a similar programme.

In the UK, vaccines supplied under emergency authorisation are exempted from civil liability but individuals may still sue the producers under the Consumer Protection Act.

In Germany, drug makers are only liable for damages if medical science shows their products cause disproportionate harm relative to their benefits or if medicine labels contain wrong information.

01:29

Like drinking milk tea: China launches worlds first inhalable Covid vaccine

Like drinking milk tea: China launches worlds first inhalable Covid vaccine

In the 1970s and 80s, pharmaceutical companies had to pay millions to plaintiffs in vaccine injury lawsuits and were locked in long and costly litigation.

Some drug makers were put off by the complexity and the risks of potential lawsuits, and governments had to give them exemptions to encourage them to make costly investments in the research and development of new vaccines.

For example, a person might have a heart problem even before receiving the vaccine. Likewise, the chance of a vaccinated person having a stroke may be the same as that of the non-vaccinated population.

However, the anti-vaccine campaigns that have gained influence in recent years have made rational discussions about the benefits and risks of jabs difficult.

Medical practitioners and government officials are worried that any public discussion about vaccine risks or injuries could cause vaccine hesitancy or feed conspiracy theories espoused by anti-vaxxers.

It has resulted in a dichotomy of narratives.

One narrative puts the number of vaccinations above every other protective measure and advocates as many vaccinations as possible, while dismissing injuries as very rare cases exaggerated or fabricated by anti-vaxxers.

Another narrative that is gaining ground reflects strong anti-vaccine views. Most of its assertions are absurd, such as claims that vaccines were a bioweapon.

This dichotomy is impeding healthy discussions and research into the effectiveness, efficacy and the risks of Covid-19 vaccines.

An article published in The New York Times on May 4 said many people who believed they were harmed by vaccines were dismissed as anti-vaxxers and their voices not heard.

Some of the interviewees were scientists or medical professionals, including Dr Gregory Poland, editor-in-chief of the journal Vaccine, who said he suffered from tinnitus after the first shot. But he said his requests asking scientists to look into the phenomenon went nowhere.

It is extremely difficult to determine whether an illness or death was caused by vaccines, because these effects could be the result of an underlying disease or caused by Covid-19 itself.

That is why a lot of intensive research is required to investigate claims from both sides of the vaccine divide. Ignoring or dismissing discussions about the potential side effects of vaccines will only cultivate more hesitancy around the topic in the future.

The best time for candid discussions and intensive research is now, before another pandemic hits.

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Now is the time to talk about vaccines, but Covid-19 leaves polarising legacy - South China Morning Post

The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has criticized Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, for his comments on the withdrawal of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

He argued that the health ministry should be transparent with Ghanaians, acknowledging that the vaccine's withdrawal is due to identified side effects, not commercial reasons.

Pratt insisted that Dr. Kuma-Aboagye and his team should focus on developing strategies to mitigate the side effects experienced by vaccinated individuals, rather than offering unnecessary justifications.

Speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo Morning Show and monitored by GhanaWeb, the veteran journalist rebuked the health ministry over the vaccine's withdrawal.

"Those of us compelled to get vaccinated now face a medical risk. The ministry should be informing us about countermeasures for the side effects to prevent fatalities. The claim that the withdrawal is for commercial, not medical, reasons is unacceptable.

"A superior vaccine constitutes a medical rationale. They must provide us with credible information, or we will be justifiably upset. They forced the whole population to take the vaccine, now they're giving us irrelevant explanations," he fumed.

These comments follow the Ghana Health Service's (GHS) justification for removing the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, attributing it to commercial, rather than medical concerns.

At a press conference during the COVID-19 Vaccination and Child Health Promotion Week/African Vaccination Week Campaign in Accra's Ga East Municipality, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye clarified that the decision was based on commercial considerations, with superior vaccines in the market making AstraZeneca non-competitive.

"They are withdrawing for commercial reasons in the sense that there are superior vaccines in the market, and so if you are in a market and you will not be able to compete, why produce something when others will go for some other brand?" citinewsroom.com reported him as having said.

Watch the video below"

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Link:

They're giving us irrelevant explanations after forcing COVID-19 vaccines on us - Kwesi Pratt fumes - GhanaWeb

Photo used for illustrative purpose.

Patients with heart failure who are vaccinated against Covid-19 are 82 per cent more likely to live longer than those who are not vaccinated, a new study said on Saturday.

The study presented at Heart Failure 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), used the Korean National Health Insurance Service database to obtain information on vaccinations and clinical outcomes.

Participants who received two or more doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were described as "vaccinated", and those who were not vaccinated or had received just one dose were defined as "unvaccinated".

Heart Failure is a life-threatening syndrome affecting more than 64 million people globally.

In this large study of patients with heart failure, Covid-19 vaccination was associated with a lower likelihood of contracting the infection, being admitted to hospital because of heart failure, or dying from any cause during a six-month period compared with remaining unvaccinated, said study author Dr Kyeong-Hyeon Chun of the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Republic of Korea.

The study comprised 651,127 heart failure patients over the age of 18. The average age was 69.5 years, and 50 per cent were female. Of the whole study population, 538,434 (83 per cent) were classified as vaccinated, and 112,693 (17 per cent) as unvaccinated.

The researchers found that vaccination was associated with an 82 per cent lower risk of all-cause mortality, 47 per cent lower risk of hospitalisation for heart failure, and 13 per cent reduced risk of Covid-19 infection compared with no vaccination.

Regarding cardiovascular complications, vaccination was associated with significantly lower risks of stroke, heart attack, myocarditis/pericarditis, and venous thromboembolism compared to no vaccination, the researchers mentioned.

"The study provides strong evidence to support vaccination in patients with heart failure. However, this evidence may not be applicable to all patients with heart failure, and the risks of vaccination should be considered in patients with unstable conditions," Chun said.

Indo-Asian News Service

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Heart failure patients who have taken Covid vaccine likely to live longer: Study - Gulf Today

Heart failure (HF) patients who received a COVID-19 vaccine are significantly less likely to be hospitalized for HF symptoms or die for any reason, according to new data presented at Heart Failure 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

The analysis included data from more than 651,000 adult Korean residents with HF. The average patient age was 69.5 years old, and 50% were men. Approximately 83% of patients were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning they received two or more doses of an approved vaccine.

The studys authors compared 73,559 vaccinated patients with 73,559 unvaccinated patients, matching them 1:1 according to age, sex, comorbidities and other relevant patient attributes. The median follow-up period was six months.

Overall, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with an 82% lower risk of all-cause mortality, 47% lower risk of hospitalization for HF and 13% lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19. Vaccinated patients also had lower rates of stroke, heart attack, myocarditis/pericarditis and venous thromboembolism during that six-month period.

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COVID-19 vaccines helped heart failure patients stay out of the hospital and live longer - Cardiovascular Business

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel discusses AstraZeneca admitting that its COVID vaccine can cause side effects and shares why it's important to move every 30 minutes.

The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Tuesday said it is withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine worldwide citing low demand and a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The vaccine calledVaxzevria was one of a number of shots released onto the market by pharmaceutical companies aimed at preventing people from catching COVID-19.

The company said it would proceed to withdraw Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe. The vaccine was never approved in the U.S. by the FDA.

POLAND ASKS PFIZER TO RENEGOTIATE COVID-19 VACCINE DEAL

AstraZeneca said that more than 3 billion doses of its vaccine were supplied globally and that "over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone." (Reuters/Sergio Perez / Reuters Photos)

"As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

AstraZeneca said that more than 3 billion doses were supplied globally and that "over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone."

"Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic," the statement said, according to the Guardian. "We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the COVID-19 pandemic."

VACCINE MAKERS SEE STOCK PRICE BOOST ON BIDEN ADMIN COVID SHOT PUSH

The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Tuesday said it is withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, citing low demand and a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic. (iStock)

According to the Telegraph, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time in court documents that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause rare side effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts. The admission came via a U.K. class action lawsuit that sought $125 million for almost 50 victims of AstraZeneca vaccine side effects.

TheEuropean Medicines AgencylistedGuillain-Barr syndromeas a very rare side effect ofVaxzevria in 2021 and added a warning in the product information.

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The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on Tuesday, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

Many countries had already stopped supplying the vaccine before Tuesdays announcement. It has not been available for use in Australia since March 2023, though its use was already being phased out from June 2021 due to the widespread availability of newer vaccines, according to the Guardian.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Originally posted here:

AstraZeneca to withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine globally as demand dips, rare side effects revealed - Fox Business

Heart failure patients who are vaccinated against COVID-19 have an 82% greater likelihood of living longer than those who are not vaccinated, according to research presented today at Heart Failure 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Heart Failure is a life-threatening syndrome affecting more than 64 million people worldwide.

Patients with heart failure should be vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect their health, said study author Dr. Kyeong-Hyeon Chun of the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Republic of Korea. In this large study of patients with heart failure, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a lower likelihood of contracting the infection, being admitted to hospital because of heart failure, or dying from any cause during a six-month period compared with remaining unvaccinated.

Previous studies have shown the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cardiovascular diseases including heart failure, and that COVID-19 outcomes are worse in patients with heart failure compared to those without heart failure. However, there has been little research on how vaccines work specifically in patients with heart failure. This nationwide, retrospective study examined the prognosis of heart failure patients according to COVID-19 vaccination status.

This study used the Korean National Health Insurance Service database, which covers nearly all residents of the Republic of Korea, to obtain information on vaccinations and clinical outcomes. Participants who received two or more doses of COVID-19 vaccine were defined as "vaccinated", and those who were not vaccinated or had received just one dose were defined as "unvaccinated".

The study included 651,127 patients aged 18 years or older with heart failure. The average age was 69.5 years and 50% were women. Of the total study population, 538,434 (83%) were defined as vaccinated and 112,693 (17%) as unvaccinated. To control for factors that could influence the relationship between vaccination status and outcomes, the researchers performed 1:1 matching of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients according to age, sex, other health conditions (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc.), income, and region of residence. This resulted in 73,559 vaccinated patients and 73,559 unvaccinated patients for the comparative analyses.

The median follow-up was six months. Vaccination was associated with an 82% lower risk of all-cause mortality, 47% lower risk of hospitalisation for heart failure, and 13% reduced risk of COVID-19 infection compared with no vaccination. Regarding cardiovascular complications, vaccination was associated with significantly lower risks of stroke, heart attack, myocarditis/pericarditis, and venous thromboembolism compared to no vaccination.

Dr. Chun said: This was the first analysis of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in a large population of heart failure patients, and the first to show a clear benefit from vaccination. The study provides strong evidence to support vaccination in patients with heart failure. However, this evidence may not be applicable to all patients with heart failure, and the risks of vaccination should be considered in patients with unstable conditions.

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COVID-19 vaccine can help people with heart failure live longer, reveals study - Medical Dialogues