Oxford Covid vaccine is less effective against South African mutant strain, claim scientists: Small study of just 2,000 patients found some patients got mild or moderate symptoms - but NONE died or were hospitalised

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is less effective against the South African variant, early data showed last night in a blow to global inoculation efforts.

A small trial of just 2,026 people found the jab had 'limited efficacy' in protecting against mild and moderate disease caused by the mutant strain.

The pharmaceutical giant said scientists will now start adapting the vaccine to kill the new variant, with hopes it will be ready by autumn.

Nobody died or was hopitalised during the study by South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand and Oxford University, which has not yet been published but has been seen by the Financial Times.

An AstraZeneca spokesman said: 'In this small phase I/II trial, early data has shown limited efficacy against mild disease primarily due to the B.1.351 South African variant.

'However, we have not been able to properly ascertain its effect against severe disease and hospitalisation given that subjects were predominantly young healthy adults.'

The average age of the trial's participants was 31, an age at which one is very unlikely to fall seriously ill with Covid-19.

Coronavirus has mutated thousands of times during the course of the pandemic which is normal behaviour for a virus.

But scientists are concerned in particular about three variants which evidence suggests are highly transmissible; the ones first detected in Kent, South Africa and Brazil.

The South African variant, which has been detected across the world including in the UK, appears to be proving the most immune to vaccines.

American pharmaceutical firms Johnson and Johnson and Novavax have both reported their shots are less effective against the strain.

Similarly, Moderna is manufacturing a booster shot to its vaccine regimen to tackle the variant, while the Pfizer-BioNTech jab was also reportedly less effective.

Britain has bought 100million doses of the home-grown Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and is currently rolling it out to millions.

At the same time a testing blitz is underway in parts of the country after 11 cases of the variant were identified in people who had no links to travel - suggesting it may be spreading in communities.

Worcestershire become the latest area to start surge testing after the South African coronavirus variant was detected locally. Worcestershire County Council has set up surge testing in the WR3 postcode after cases of the variant with no links to international travel were identified.

A mobile testing unit has been set up at The White Hart pub in Fernhill Heath, near Worcester, for adults with no symptoms living within walking distance. A drive-through testing site is planned to open in the coming days, and door-to-door testing will also be made available.

Worcestershire County Council said: 'Working in partnership with NHS Test and Trace, every person over the age of 18, living in the WR3 postcode and some WR9 postcodes, is strongly encouraged to take a Covid-19 test this week, even if they are not showing symptoms.'

Dr Kathryn Cobain, director for public health in the county, said: 'I urge everyone offered a test to take it up to help us to monitor the virus in our communities and to help suppress and control the spread of this variant.'

Door-to-door and mobile testing began at the start of the month as part of urgent efforts to swab 80,000 people.

Testing of around 10,000 people in Maidstone, Kent, was completed on Thursday night.

In Surrey, testing in Woking was expected to finish on Friday with door-to-door deliveries in Egham and Thorpe due to begin on Saturday.

Sefton Council said efforts to identify the variant in the Norwood area of Southport in Merseyside would continue into the weekend.

Testing in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, is being rolled out for another week until February 12, the council said.

Around 10,300 people in Walsall have been tested so far and some 560 tests had been conducted in the affected areas in Birmingham, the West Midlands Combined Authority was told.

Mobile testing units and home testing kits were also deployed this week to Hanwell, west London and Mitcham, south London.

Testing will also continue into next week in Tottenham, north London

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9232411/Oxford-Covid-vaccine-effective-against-South-African-mutant-strain-claim-scientists.html

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The 'magic' has started: early data shows Israel's vaccination campaign is working

It took longer than expected but there is now 'real world' evidence to show the Pfizer jab is both saving lives and reducing infections

A new study published on Friday suggested for the first time Israel’s vaccination campaign was proving effective at preventing infection and serious illness in vaccinated individuals.

It adds to an analysis published earlier in the week which shows the Pfizer vaccine starting to change the dynamics of the outbreak in Israel where nearly 40 per cent of the population has now received at least one jab.

The latest study published by Professor Dvir Aran, a biologist at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, suggests the vaccine is between 66-85 per cent effective at preventing infection and 87-96 per cent effective for preventing severe disease.

The results are not quite as strong as Pfizer’s own phase three trial results but not far off.

“Our sensitivity analysis provides an estimate for the effectiveness of the vaccine in reducing positive and severe cases”, said the authors. “While this estimate is lower than the efficacy of the [Pfizer trial] it is still substantive and provides reassurance for the vaccine efficacy”.

The degree to which the Pfizer vaccine appears to block infection is the perhaps the strongest signal yet that it may block transmission of the virus - the key to eventually reaching herd immunity.

However, the results also suggest the first dose of the vaccine may not be “very effective” in reducing cases. This raises a possible concern over the UK strategy of leaving 12 weeks between shots, rather than the three weeks recommended by Pfizer.

“We see that immediately after the second dose the effectiveness jumps”, said Prof Aran on Twitter, adding that this could be explained by either the immediate impact of the second dose or the first dose coincidentally becoming effective on the three-week mark. “We will have to wait and see numbers from the UK”, he said.

A second Israeli study shows the vaccination campaign appears to have had a marked impact on case numbers, hospitalisations and serious illness among those over 60 - the first group to be vaccinated.

Among this group, there was a 35 per cent drop in cases, a 30 per cent drop in hospitalisations and a 20 per cent fall in those critically ill over the two weeks to February 1

Announcing the findings on Monday, the study’s lead author Professor Eran Segal, a computer scientist at the Weizmann Institute, said: “We say with caution, the magic has started”.

Prof Segal said that by comparing their results with other age groups and the trends seen in the first wave of the pandemic, they could be “reasonably certain” that the vaccine was working.

He added that Israel had initially expected to see the impact of the vaccine earlier but a number of possible factors may have caused it to be delayed.

“The [older] people who came forward to get vaccinated first are probably the ones that are more cautious, so vaccinating them is going to have less of an impact”, he said.

“The UK variant is also the dominant one here now and if the reports are correct, this does not only spread faster, but it also causes more severe disease. This may have been another factor that off-set the [early] impact of the vaccine”.

Prof Segal and his colleague, Uri Shalit, warned that while the vaccine rollout in Israel had started out at an unprecedented pace, take-up was now slowing and getting to the final 10-15 per cent of high-risk groups was proving difficult.

“The worry is that among the high-risk population, we still have certain sectors like the Israeli Arabs and the ultra orthodox, where much lower percentages of people who are eligible to get vaccinated actually went to get vaccinated”, said Prof Segal.

Professor Shalit added: “If we don’t get to these groups, the modelling shows it can have a huge impact on mortality and critically ill patients in hospital”.

The biggest and most powerful Israeli vaccine study is expected to come from the country’s largest health care provider Clalit Health in the next few weeks. Clalit covers some 4.7 million people - more than half the country’s population.

Professor Ran Balicer, founding director of the Clalit Research Institute, said he was optimistic the vaccine was having a positive impact but that detailed efficacy data would take time to emerge.

“But what we could say, I think with good confidence from the Ministry of Health data, is... we finally have been witnessing a difference in the rate of decline of the daily severe illness between the over 60 and the under 60 age groups”, he said.

“That could have two potential explanations. One is that somehow the over 60s have become much more careful about their daily conduct, and are very careful not to get infected, or that vaccines on the population level begin to show their effects”.

“I would strongly agree that these ecologic data are quite reassuring and are quite promising. I would have been exceedingly worried had we not seen on a population level already such a picture.”

The mood is lifting at a political level too. Israel’s cabinet voted on Thursday to begin gradually reopening parts of the economy next week. Starting on February 7, restrictions on movement will be lifted while certain businesses will be able to reopen.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/magic-has-started-early-data-show-israels-vaccination-campaign/

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IN BRIEF

Unity! Senate Dems pass budget resolution for partisan vote on COVID bill; Kamala Harris breaks tie (NPR)

Democrats to introduce a regressive and immoral resolution to "cancel" (read: burden taxpayers with) $50,000 in student loan debt (Disrn)

Trump will not testify in sham impeachment trial (Fox News)

Judge in Michael Flynn case takes senior status, giving Biden 11th judicial pick since inauguration (Examiner)

U.S. cuts off involvement in Yemen's Houthi-instigated and Iran-backed civil war (Forbes)

Biden signs order to ramp up refugee admissions to 125,000 (CBS News)

Eleven Iranians arrested in Arizona after jumping U.S.-Mexico border (Washington Times)

Perfect storm forcing Border Patrol to release apprehended migrant families directly into the U.S. (Examiner)

With 49,000 increase, payrolls barely grow to start 2021 even as the unemployment rate fell to 6.3% (CNBC)

Gun sales continue to soar as Democrats take control (Disrn)

Bank of America allegedly collected data off consumers who might have been at DC riot (Examiner)

Another "climate-friendly" high-speed rail project from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur bites the dust (Watts Up With That?)

Johnson & Johnson requests emergency authorization for COVID vaccine (CNBC)

Well ... bye: CNN President Jeff Zucker stepping down at year's end (Post Millennial)

Mike Pence to join Heritage Foundation, write column for Daily Signal (Daily Signal)

Canadian Olympic Committee warns athletes not to criticize China ahead of 2022 winter games in Beijing (Free Beacon)

Policy: The Romney child allowance proposal is a move in the wrong direction (AEI)

Policy: Biden's empty environmentalism: Shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline shows the new president's preference for symbolism over substance (City Journal)

Humor: Snopes rates AOC's account of capitol attack as "factually inaccurate but morally true" (Babylon Bee)

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http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

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