AstraZeneca has downgraded its estimates of the efficacy of its Covid vaccine by 3% following recent criticism from a US health agency that results from a trial used “outdated information”. The pharmaceutical company hopes that this small revision will enable its vaccine to receive US approval in the coming weeks. The Mail has the story.
AstraZeneca today claimed its Covid vaccine blocked 76% of symptomatic infections in a major US trial, after downgrading its estimate slightly in the face of unprecedented public criticism.
The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant was accused of cherry-picking data by US watchdogs, who were “concerned” that the firm provided an “incomplete view” of the jab’s efficacy by releasing early results of the study.
But the recalculated figure was only marginally lower than the original 79% it bragged about on Monday. The data was based on the final results of the exact same 32,000-person trial.
AstraZeneca’s Mene Pangalos, Executive Vice President of Biopharmaceutical Research and Development, said the results were “consistent” with the interim results that sparked controversy.
He added the data “confirms our Covid vaccine is highly effective in adults, including those aged 65 years and over”.
The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) expressed concerns over the use of “outdated information” in trial results in a statement earlier this week. The Mail reported:
The Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), an independent committee overseeing the trial, has “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data”, the US NIAID said in a statement.
“We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review the efficacy data and ensure the most accurate, up-to-date efficacy data be made public as quickly as possible,” it said, adding that the DSMB had informed AstraZeneca of its concerns.
AZ scientists have commented that this statement was highly “unusual” given that such discussions are usually held behind closed doors, but have also expressed hope about the vaccine receiving US approval in due course.
The small revision to the efficacy rate will go a long way to putting the vaccine back on track for US approval, with the firm hoping it will be given the green light in the coming weeks. Britain’s regulators gave it the sign off in December.
The Mail’s report on this downgrading is worth reading in full.
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Meanwhile the Covid enquiry in the UK continues to take its time.
The Covid enquiry in the UK is, by-and-large pure theatre. The conclusions of the enquiry had been decided before the enquiry even started.
Happy lawyers… once again!
As Domonic Cummings said….Many of the meetings are a foregone conclusion.
The CONVID enquiry in the UK remains a complete charade plain to see for anyone able to bring themselves to look.
A hero.
Each little victory opens the Overton window a crack. Good on yer, mate.
Thanks to Rebekah Barnett and the DS editors for this wonderful news from Australia, which we might never have heard through the mainstream media.
Aseem Malhotra is still in the firing line:
https://www.gmc-uk.org/news/news-archive/statement-on-judicial-review-of-our-handling-of-complaints-about-dr-aseem-malhotra
And the death of his uncle, and maybe it will get people more interested in our own state secrets that often are classified till 2045 to name a few.
Both his Uncle and his Father……Trump was persuaded not to open the Files….as they were too shocking……also Martin Luther Kings…..
There are a whole stack of ‘skeletons’ to be found. The reality will be terrifying. See attached and try googling any of the entries on it! Coincidences?
Hear hear!
Australia was one place I did not expect this to happen.
I think a lot of people who work in healthcare are feeling genuine remorse now. They were sincerely ignorant at the time and now can’t deny what is happening in terms of admissions for cancer. People showing up with no previous medical history, no risk factors, and finding out that they have advanced lung cancer. It is a terrible death even if it only lasts three months. Not just the lungs the whole body wastes away bones become so thin and then the final unspeakable agonies. To my mind this is the greatest evil in the history of humankind.
The BBC ran an article lamenting the fact that Stephen Bartlett allowed experts like Dr. Bay to voice their educated opinion or as the BBC put it “spread misinformation” on his popular podcast.
This is why BBC Verify is seen as a joke. When even courts find that medics have every right to question vaccines, lockdowns or any other pharmaceutical or NP intervention and indeed should be encouraged to do so it lays bare what Verify is – a dangerous tool of censorship and one-narrative control.