COVID-19: Vaccine and testing procedures Megathread Part 2 [Mod Warning - Post #1]

Jimi H

Melanchthon wrote: »

It's not the lack of efficiacy data that is making people wonder if it's a political point.
It's that they published this a day ahead of the EMA.

What non political reason is there too jump the gun like that? The vaccine isn't in use at all in Germany so there is no reason not too hold of on publishing for a day.

Seriously what non political reason is there to publish it today?

Maybe they have the same data as the EMA and possibly disagree with what they know or expect the EMA to publish tomorrow. They may simply feel they have a responsibility to do it for the German population. On the other hand you could be correct. Who knows? Probably no one on boards.

Jimi H

Jimi H wrote: »

Maybe they have the same data as the EMA and possibly disagree with what they know or expect the EMA to publish tomorrow. They may simply feel they have a responsibility to do it for the German population. On the other hand you could be correct. Who knows? Probably no one on boards.

I kind of wonder if we should be reserving the better vaccines for the most vulnerable anyway. The main reason we had been planning on using AZ for over 70's was ease of use and storage.

Our biggest order is now Pfizer, over 6m doses. Perhaps we should shift focus to the logistics of getting it our more vulnerable now. Especially with the news it is effective against known variants, and the early reports from Israel looks good.

brickster69

Anyone any idea how much the Pfizer jab costs / dose ?

Melanchthon

brickster69 wrote: »

Anyone any idea how much the Pfizer jab costs / dose ?

A Belgium MEP tweeted the costs a while back, she deleted the tweet but here's an article

https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-pfizer-astrazeneca-moderna-vaccine-eu-revealed-belgian-mp-2020-12?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=The%20EU%20contributed%20significant%20funding%20to%20BioNTech%2C%20who,the%20EU%20will%20pay%20%242.18%20%28€1.78%2C%29%20Bernstein%20said.

Oh outside EU it may cost more, as it was high volume order.

landofthetree

https://twitter.com/segal_eran/status/1354850473774379014

brickster69

Melanchthon wrote: »

A Belgium MEP tweeted the costs a while back, she deleted the tweet but here's an article

https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-pfizer-astrazeneca-moderna-vaccine-eu-revealed-belgian-mp-2020-12?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=The%20EU%20contributed%20significant%20funding%20to%20BioNTech%2C%20who,the%20EU%20will%20pay%20%242.18%20%28€1.78%2C%29%20Bernstein%20said.

Oh outside EU it may cost more, as it was high volume order.

Don't suppose we know how much it costs to make do we ?

Malcomex

seamie78 wrote: »

imho opinion the extra restrictions for international travel are being brought in for 2 reasons, the first being to protect against the virus and different strains being brought in, the second being a quick amendment could exempt people whom are vaccinated from these restrictions.

Its interesting that all of Europe are talking along similar lines in relation to international travel

Quarantine is being setup so regions can be targeted and restricted as new variants appear

Allows for booster jabs to be developed and distributed before whole populations become infected

Speed of implementation is key.

Its already too late for SA and BZL variants

Apogee

Deleted User wrote: »

I kind of wonder if we should be reserving the better vaccines for the most vulnerable anyway. The main reason we had been planning on using AZ for over 70's was ease of use and storage.

Our biggest order is now Pfizer, over 6m doses. Perhaps we should shift focus to the logistics of getting it our more vulnerable now. Especially with the news it is effective against known variants, and the early reports from Israel looks good.

In terms of vaccine efficacy, and likelihood of supplies, that seems like a very practical approach.

Would it be reasonable to assume that every major county hospital (e.g UHL, UHK, UHW etc) would have -70C refrigeration capacity?

Itsaduck1

Are doctors prescribing Amantadine here as a treatment?

Talked to a friend in Poland who got pretty sick and felt way better in 24hrs after being prescribed by doctor there

Looks like they are doing a clinical trial in Poland next month, be nice if its effective


https://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/evaluating-amantadine-as-a-potential-treatment-for-covid-19

afatbollix

brickster69 wrote: »

Don't suppose we know how much it costs to make do we ?

Billions were spent on R&D that's where the costs in manufacturing are.

It probably cost more to manufacture the glass vial.

Apogee

Interesting site which tracks the distribution of the different variants in each country:
https://covariants.org/per-country
20A.EU1 - orange - Spanish variant
N501 - pink - UK variant

Drexel_3

The stars from Israel are encouraging. Early days tho. Who are next best for % vaccinated ? Is it the UK?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Drexel_3 wrote: »

The stars from Israel are encouraging. Early days tho. Who are next best for % vaccinated ? Is it the UK?

I think its uae but a lot of that are Chinese (or Russian vaccines).

Would be an interesting comparison to look in depth at the effects of vaccines in both countries.

Cork2021

Novavvax results!!

https://twitter.com/coronavirusgoo1/status/1354900708697530369?s=21

Micky 32

Cork2021 wrote: »

Novavvax results!!

https://twitter.com/coronavirusgoo1/status/1354900708697530369?s=21

Anytime i see yoiur username it’s a breath of fresh air :pac:

Sky King

EU deal is for 200m novavax yea?

JTMan

Good news on the Novavax UK efficacy but bad news on the SA variant efficacy.

NY Times reports here that Novavax’s Vaccine had an efficacy rate of nearly 90 percent. But in a small South Africa trial, the efficacy rate dropped to just under 50 percent.

- First to conduct an efficacy trial in SA. Researchers expected the variants could change the trial results, but “the amount of change has been a bit of a surprise to everyone.”
- Novavax said 44 trial participants in SA developed Covid-19, and it sequenced the genetic lineage of 27 cases. Of those, 25 cases were caused by the more contagious version of the virus.

Malcomex

How much use is a vaccine with limited efficacy against variants?

Sky King

Sky King wrote: »

EU deal is for 200m novavax yea?

Don't think any deal has concluded yet.

Malcomex

Malcomex wrote: »

How much use is a vaccine with limited efficacy against variants?

Depends on if it reduces the severity of disease. You could get lots of symptomatic infections in the vaccine group, but if they are all mild cases, it is still a good result. Be interesting to see the breakdown.

marno21

Confidence intervals are massive in the SA trial 49.4% (CI: 6.1-72.8) including HIV+ patients (4400 participants in total). Removing HIV+ patients (which is 94% of the total trial), it's 60% efficacy (CI: 19.9-80.1). 1/3rd of the patients had antibodies from previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

UK trial is much clearer 89.3% (CI: 75.2-95.4) across 15k participants.

https://www.novavax.com/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-updates

Malcomex

marno21 wrote: »

Confidence intervals are massive in the SA trial 49.4% (6.1-72.8) including HIV+ patients (4400 participants in total). Removing HIV+ patients (which is 94% of the total trial), it's 60% efficacy (19.9-80.1 CI). 1/3rd of the patients had antibodies from previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

UK trial is much clearer 89.3% (CI: 75.2-95.4) across 15k participants.

https://www.novavax.com/covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-updates

Translate?

CIARAN_BOYLE

This is interim data right?

So another month or two for final data and then they can apply?

ACitizenErased

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

This is interim data right?

So another month or two for final data and then they can apply?

https://twitter.com/skynewsbreak/status/1354904805546848256?s=21

titan18

Cork2021 wrote: »

Novavvax results!!

https://twitter.com/coronavirusgoo1/status/1354900708697530369?s=21

We have zero of those ordered so doesn't really help us at all

Yeah EU deal is yet to be signed. Production is in the UK (US company) might be time for our lot to put on their diplomat hats and start playing up "special relationships" and see if anything can be done.

The South Africa variant result is a worry, wondering if the AZ vaccine might have the same problem, but considering the number of HIV patients in the South Africa portion of the Novavax trial, it might not be that big a deal.

ACitizenErased

In the South Africa Phase 2b clinical trial, 60% efficacy (95% CI: 19.9 – 80.1) for the prevention of mild, moderate and severe COVID-19 disease was observed in the 94% of the study population that was HIV-negative. Twenty-nine cases were observed in the placebo group and 15 in the vaccine group. One severe case occurred in the placebo group and all other cases were mild or moderate. The clinical trial also achieved its primary efficacy endpoint in the overall trial population, including HIV-positive and HIV-negative subjects (efficacy of 49.4%; 95% CI: 6.1 – 72.8).

That is a humongous confidence interval..

Cork2021

titan18 wrote: »

We have zero of those ordered so doesn't really help us at all

100 million is what the talks concluded with an option 100 million more. Up to the EU now to sign contracts.
Possibly a big mistake not to have concluded this already!

ACitizenErased

Someone would want to give J&J a nudge, I don't know if anyone was expecting Novavax to get there before them

nommm

I’m surprised talks haven’t concluded already. This analysis was always due end of January. Hopefully they can get it through.