22 June 21 - Merkel receives Moderna as second jab after AstraZeneca shot

 German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received a dose of Moderna as her second shot of ...

22 June 2021

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image captionMrs Merkel first received a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in April and then a dose of Moderna a few days ago

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received a dose of Moderna as her second shot of coronavirus vaccine having had Oxford-AstraZeneca as her first, a government spokesman said.

The 66-year-old leader was vaccinated a few days ago after getting a dose of AstraZeneca in April.

Experts believe mixed dosing of Covid vaccines could be a good idea but it is too early to say for sure.

Mrs Merkel will be stepping down as leader this year after 16 years.

In March, Germany, along with other European countries, halted the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine after a number of blood clots cases were reported.

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Germany had previously restricted the use of the jab to over-60s, but is now set to offer it to all adults, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports.

After a slow start, Germany's vaccination rollout accelerated in recent weeks.

More than half of the country's population has now received their first dose of a vaccine.

In April, Mrs Merkel's spokesman tweeted a photo of her vaccination certificate to show she had received the injection.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

There have been some studies conducted on the mixing of different vaccines.

One study in the UK found that adults were more likely to report mild and moderate side effects after mixing doses of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer Covid vaccines.

Some countries have been looking at mixing vaccines in the face of supply shortages and to improve protection, Reuters news agency reports.

The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have both said they plan to mix vaccines in the near future, amid uncertainty over shipments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and concerns about rare blood clots.

Experts believe mixed dosing of Covid vaccines could be a very good idea. It might give broader, longer-lasting immunity against the pandemic virus and new variants of it, and offer more flexibility to vaccine rollout.

Studies are under way, but some countries are already allowing it within their national immunisation programs.

Germany initially restricted the use of the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine to people under 60 because there wasn't much trial data available on efficacy in older people.

It reversed that decision in April, offering it to all adults. Weeks later Mrs Merkel received her first dose.

More recently, following reports of rare blood clots in a small number of younger people who had the AZ vaccine, Germany recommended that under-60s who had already received a first dose of should have a different coronavirus vaccine for their booster second jab for safety reasons, as a precaution.

Merkel doesn't fit this age bracket, but, nonetheless, she's had Moderna rather than AZ for her second dose.

It may prove to be a decision that gives her better protection, but until we have the evidence from large trials, it is really too early to say for sure.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57571791

Are Chinese COVID-19 shots effective against the Delta variant?

BEIJING, June 29 (Reuters) - Many countries from China to Indonesia and Brazil rely heavily on Chinese vaccines to inoculate their people against COVID-19, but there are growing concerns about whether they provide enough protection against the Delta variant, first identified in India.

 June 29, 2021

12:07 PM +08Last Updated 3 days ago

Doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are seen at the Biblioteka kod Milutina restaurant in Kragujevac, Serbia, May 4, 2021. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo

Below are views from China's health experts about the effectiveness of home-grown vaccines against the Delta, which is becoming the globally dominant variant, and virus preventive measures China is taking.

DO CHINESE VACCINES WORK AGAINST DELTA?

China has not provided vaccine effectiveness results against the variant based on large-scale data in clinical trials or real-world use, nor offered detailed information from lab tests, but Chinese experts are urging people to get inoculated as soon as possible.

The lack of detailed data on the Chinese vaccines against the Delta has hobbled any meaningful peer reviews by foreign experts.

Researchers found that Chinese vaccines are somewhat effective in reducing the risk of symptomatic and severe cases caused by Delta, Zhong Nanshan, a epidemiologist who helped shape China's COVID-19 response, told reporters.

It is based on analysis of infections in Guangzhou city, and Zhong told Reuters the results are preliminary and the sample size is small.

Sinovac spokesman Liu Peicheng told Reuters preliminary results based on blood samples from those vaccinated with its shot showed a three-fold reduction in neutralizing effect against the Delta.

He said a booster shot following the two dose-based regimen could quickly elicit stronger and more durable antibody reaction against the Delta. However, he didn't provide detailed data.

Antibodies triggered by two Chinese vaccines are less effective against the Delta compared with other variants, Feng Zijian, former deputy director at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media last week.

Feng did not provide details including the name of the two vaccines.

The shots could still offer protection, since none of those vaccinated in southern Guangdong province, where China's first cases of the Delta variant were found, developed severe symptoms. All severe cases are from unvaccinated people.

Jin Dong-Yan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said Feng's comment alone is not enough to back up the claim that Chinese vaccines are effective against severe cases, as more data is needed.

Indonesia, which has reported record daily cases recently due to a surge in the Delta variant, saw hundreds of medical workers infected by the COVID-19 despite being vaccinated with Sinovac's shot, officials said earlier this month.

It was not immediately clear, however, if the Indonesian medical workers were infected by the Delta variant.

HOW DO THEY COMPARE WITH WESTERN SHOTS?

A study by Public Health England (PHE) found in May the Pfizer (PFE.N)-BioNTech (22UAy.DE) vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the Delta two weeks after the second dose.

That compared with 93% effectiveness against the Alpha variant, first identified in Britain.

Two doses of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine were 60% effective against symptomatic disease from the Delta compared with 66% effectiveness against the Alpha, PHE said.

There is no substantial data showing how protective Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is, and U.S. infectious disease experts are weighing the need for booster shots using mRNA vaccines.

HOW SEVERE WAS THE GUANGDONG OUTBREAK?

Guangdong, China's major manufacturing and export hub, became the country's biggest cluster of Delta cases since reporting its first locally transmitted Delta variant infection in May.

The Delta infections included 146 cases in Guangdong's capital Guangzhou and several cases from the southern tech hub of Shenzhen and nearby Dongguan city.

No new domestic transmissions of any variant have been reported in the province from June 22.

WHAT CHINA HAS DONE?

Guangdong, which has 126 million people, has fast-tracked its vaccination effort since the outbreak. It had administered just 39.15 million doses as of May 19, but the number shot up to 101.12 million by June 20.

Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan quickly sealed off neighbourhoods where those who were infected and their contacts visited and launched multiple rounds of mass testing, following the protocols observed during previous outbreaks.

The cities also required those travelling out of the province to show proof of negative COVID-19 test results.

Zhong, the epidemiologist, said that without effective control measures 7.3 million people in Guangzhou city would have been infected in the first 20 to 30 days after the initial case.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/are-chinese-covid-19-shots-effective-against-delta-variant-2021-06-29/

Mixing AstraZeneca and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines creates better immune response: study

An Oxford study compared mixed schedules of Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs, and found that in any combination, they produced high levels of immune antibodies

The data provides support for the decision of some European countries that have started offering alternatives to AstraZeneca as a second shot

Reuters

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Published: 1:15am, 29 Jun, 2021

A woman receives a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in Santiago, Chile. Photo: Reuters

A mixed schedule of jabs where a shot of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is given four weeks after an AstraZeneca shot will produce better immune responses than giving another dose of AstraZeneca, an Oxford study said on Monday.

The study, called Com-COV, compared mixed two-dose schedules of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, and found that in any combination, they produced high concentrations of antibodies against the coronavirus spike protein.

The data provides support for the decision of some European countries that have started offering alternatives to AstraZeneca as a second shot after the vaccine was linked to rare blood clots.

Matthew Snape, the Oxford professor behind the trial, said that the findings could be used to give flexibility to vaccine roll-outs, but was not large enough to recommend a broader shift away from clinically approved schedules on its own.

SCMP Explains: What’s in a Covid-19 vaccine?

“It’s certainly encouraging that these antibody and T-cell responses look good with the mixed schedules,” he told reporters.

“But I think your default has to stay, unless there’s a very good reason otherwise, to what is proven to work,” he added referring to the same-shot vaccine schedules assessed in clinical trials.

The highest antibody response was seen in people receiving two doses of Pfizer vaccine, with both mixed schedules producing better responses than two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.

An AstraZeneca shot followed by Pfizer produced the best T-cell responses, and also a higher antibody response than Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca.

Mixing Pfizer shot and AstraZeneca safe and effective, Spanish study finds

18 May 2021

The results were for combinations of vaccines given at four-week intervals to 830 participants.

Com-COV is also looking at mixed schedules over a 12-week period, and Snape noted that AstraZeneca’s shot was known to produce a better immune response with a longer interval between doses.

In Britain, officials have suggested an eight-week gap between vaccine doses for over-40s and a 12-week delay for other adults.

“Given the UK’s stable supply position there is no reason to change vaccine schedules at this moment in time,” England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said, adding that the data on a 12-week interval would influence future decisions on the roll-out programme.

Over 80 per cent of adults in Britain have now received one dose of
Covid-19 vaccine and 60 per cent have had two shots.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3139088/mixing-astrazeneca-and-pfizer-coronavirus-vaccines-creates-better