Category: Astrazeneca
South Korea: 779 vaccine breakthroughs by vaccine
Janssen’s Covid-19 vaccine recipients reported the largest number of Covid-19 breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated in South Korea, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a regular briefing on Tuesday.
The KDCA said 779 out of 5,543,933 vaccinated people in Korea, or 14.1 per 100,000, are estimated to have had breakthrough infections as of Thursday.
By type of vaccine, 16.9 per 100,000 people given the AstraZeneca vaccine had breakthrough infections, 5 per 100,000 with the Pfizer vaccine, 38.5 per 100,000 with the Janssen vaccine, and 0.7 per 100,000 with cross vaccination with the first dose of the AZ vaccine and the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Brazil: previously infected and fully vaccinated subjects with high anti-S IgG titers are susceptible to infection by VOC
Here we show that even previously infected and fully vaccinated subjects with high anti-S IgG titers are susceptible to infection by VOC, highlighting that immune responses induced by either natural infection or vaccination may not be sufficient to prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2 variants.
For this study we selected 72 SARS-CoV-2 recently tested positive individuals with nasopharyngeal swabs collected between mid-January and March 2021 with SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR Ct values <30. These include both cancer patients and healthcare workers (HCW) from the Brazilian National Cancer Institute (INCA), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Of those 72 subjects, six were vaccinated prior the current infection and two out of those six were also reinfection cases. Another three subjects also represented reinfections, showing a previous infection during the first wave of the pandemic in Brazil.
Six HCW included in this study have been fully or partially vaccinated with one of the vaccines available in Brazil, either CoronaVac (Sinovac/Butantã) or ChAdOx1-S/nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca/Oxford/Fiocruz). All six tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR after at least one vaccine dose and reported mild symptoms during infection.
ScienceDirect.com preprint: New infections by SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern after natural infections and post-vaccination in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Image by Rafael Moura Sb. from Pixabay
Portugal: 75% of Covid-19 deaths are now in the over-70s
In the past four days in Portugal, three out of four Covid-19 deaths have occurred in the over 70-year-old age bracket. Experts explain that the increase in cases in older age groups is a reflection of the situation that the country is going through. In care homes, there are no significant outbreaks, but those responsible do not hide their concern.
RTP.pt report (with video report in Portuguese)
Portugal: coronavirus infection rates rising fastest amongst the 80+ age group
Portugal: coronavirus infection rates rising fastest amongst the 80+ age group
In another sign that the effectiveness of the various coronavirus vaccines is waning quickly, Covid-19 infection rates are now rising fastest amongst the over 80s age group, with a rise of 54% in two weeks in that cohort in Portugal. The over 80s, of course, were the first group to be vaccinated against Covid-19 earlier this year as they were deemed to be the most vulnerable to the disease.
RTP.pt report (in Portuguese)
Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine antibodies start to wane after six weeks
Image by Philipp Weber from Pixabay
UK: Third Covid-19 wave is the worst yet
The peak of the second Alpha wave was the 9th January 2021. Interactive maps produced by the UK government show infections in the third Delta wave are clearly worse than the peak of the second wave despite the “wall of protection” supposedly offered by the vaccines.
The official Covid-19 figures, the hospitalizations and the deaths have yet to catch up with what is happening on the ground.
UK: ONS estimates over 800,000 had Covid-19 this week
The latest ONS survey of UK Covid-19 infection has confirmed our suspicion that the Covid-19 epidemic has spiralled out of control in Britain, with more than 800,000 estimated to have been infected in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland last week.
England: 741,700estimated
Scotland: 65,100
Wales: 14,400
Northern Ireland: 10,900
Total: 832,100
UK: No wonder the app is pinging – around 1 million people currently have Covid-19 in Britain
Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine antibodies start to wane after six weeks
Blood tests on hundreds of British people revealed that protective antibodies can wane substantially within weeks of second vaccine shots being given.
The UCL Virus Watch study found that antibodies generated by two doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines started to wane as early as six weeks after the second shot, in some cases falling more than 50% over 10 weeks.
Israel: 90% of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the over-fifties are fully vaccinated
UK: No wonder the app is pinging – around 1 million people currently have Covid-19 in Britain
The ZOE UK Covid-19 app is showing that nearly ¾ of a million people currently have symptomatic Covid-19. Around 30% of Covid-19 cases tend to be asymptomatic, which means the total number of people with the virus in Britain could be around 1 million at present. No wonder the app is pinging!
On the 22nd July 2021, the UK Zoe Covid-19 app is showing new daily cases in Britain at more than 60,000 a day, whereas the official UK.gov website is showing new daily cases at less than 40,000…..
UK: Covid-19 study shows 40% vaccine breakthrough after changing its methodology
The UK Zoe Covid-19 study has changed its methodology for counting new Covid-19 cases and vaccine breakthroughs, possibly following the reaction to this article last week which showed vaccine breakthroughs in the UK at nearly 50%.
The new Zoe methodology shows that vaccine breakthroughs are now at 40% of new Covid-19 cases – see the chart at the top of this post. The chart also shows that there are now more Covid-19 cases in the fully vaccinated than in the partially vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the Zoe study have said that they will stop counting new unvaccinated Covid-19 cases soon as “the numbers of unvaccinated people of all age groups are so low“.
“As you see in the graph below, when we overlay our previous estimate (red line) and new adjusted estimate (orange line) in a single graph, we can see our updated methods align more closely to trends observed in government confirmed cases (blue line)”
Embarrassing.
CDC: The Covid-19 report that changed the CDC’s view on facemasks
UK: nearly 100 covid deaths, 750 hospitalizations, outbreak looking as bad as January 2021
The coronavirus outbreak in the UK is worsening with deaths almost doubling to 100 a day and hospitalizations increasing to 750 a day on 20th July 2021.
The UK “Freedom Day”, when all Covid restrictions were lifted, came into force on 19th July 2021.
The images below show the outbreak in January 2021, the peak of the last wave.
And, despite a massive vaccination campaign which has seen most British adults vaccinated, this is the most recent outbreak map for 15th July 2021:
UK: London sees a large rise in coronavirus cases as Freedom Day looms
UK: 60% of UK Covid-19 hospital cases are double vaccinated
Sir Patrick Vallance has said in the latest 10 Downing Street press conference that 60% of people hospitalized with Covid-19 have had two vaccine jabs.
In the video below, at 18 minutes:
Q: Out of all the daily announced Covid cases what percentage of these have had none, one or both of their vaccination injections?
Patrick Vallance: Well, in terms of the number of people in hospital, who have been double vaccinated, we know it’s around 60% of the people being admitted to hospital with Covid have been double vaccinated, and that is not surprising, because the vaccines are not 100% effective, they’re very, very effective, but not 100%, and as a higher proportion of the population is double vaccinated, it’s inevitable that those 10% of that very large number remain at risk and therefore will be amongst the people who both catch the infection and end up in hospital.
UPDATE: Patrick Vallance has since issued a statement saying that his remarks at the press conference were incorrect. Apparently only 40% of Covid-19 hospital cases are vaccine breakthroughs at the moment!
An absolutely bizarre "error" considering that you went on to explain exactly why the 60% figure was so high. This is all very odd and suspicious 🤔
pic.twitter.com/VHbW7PahFn— Jon Chalk (@Jon_Chalk1) July 19, 2021
** BREAKING NEWS **
Last week, the UK vaccine breakthrough figure was 47% and that included people with just one vaccine jab:
UK: vaccine breakthroughs now nearly HALF of all new Covid-19 cases
UCL modelling shows vaccine efficacy against Covid-19 infection at just 1.5%
Current estimates of the vaccination efficacy are: preventing infection: 1.5%, preventing transmission when infected: 85.5%, preventing serious illness when symptomatic: 60.7%, preventing fatality when seriously ill: 93.6%. This means being vaccinated offers very little protection against becoming infected and potentially symptomatic; however, it reduces the subsequent probability becoming infectious or developing serious illness.
Current estimates of the vaccination efficacy are:
- preventing infection: 1.5% (CI -4.6 to 7.3)
- preventing transmission when infected: 85.5% (CI 83.3 to 87.4)
- preventing serious illness when symptomatic: 60.7% (CI 58.5 to 62.9)
- preventing fatality when seriously ill: 93.6% (CI 92.1 to 94.9)
- This means being vaccinated offers very little protection against becoming infected and potentially symptomatic; however, it reduces the subsequent probability becoming infectious or developing serious illness.
UCL Long Term Forecasting of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Photo by Peter Kvetny on Unsplash
UK: Despite vaccinations, one in six council areas in England now recording highest Covid numbers since last summer
The list of councils includes almost all local authority areas in north-east England, close to a half in south-west England and nearly a third in Yorkshire and the Humber. Data also shows that every local area in England is now recording coronavirus rates above the symbolic level of 100 cases per 100,000 people – the first time this has happened since early January, at the peak of the second wave.
Some 50 of the 315 local authority areas in England (16%) are currently recording Covid-19 case rates that are higher than any point since mass testing began, PA analysis shows. Eight of these are in north-east England: Redcar & Cleveland (1,268.0 cases per 100,000 people – the highest anywhere in England); Middlesbrough (1,178.9); Hartlepool (1,061.3); Sunderland (1,036.7); Stockton-on-Tees (944.5); Darlington (863.3); County Durham (783.3); and Northumberland (674.6). In neighbouring Yorkshire & the Humber, six areas currently have record rates: Doncaster (729.1), Wakefield (667.2), Leeds (599.4), Richmondshire (575.1), Hambleton (552.4) and East Riding of Yorkshire (517.9).
UK: Hebburn West in South Tyneside now at nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people
When we looked at the coronavirus situation in West Hebburn in South Tyneside a week ago we were astonished by the infection rates in that part of North East England, which, at that point, were 1,555 per 100,000 people. Well, one week later, things, it seems, have gone from bad to worse with the infection level now at 1,983.5 cases per 100,000 people in West Hebburn. We’re not sure if that is a UK record for infection levels, but is certainly the highest rate we have ever seen for the UK. And this is two days BEFORE “Freedom Day” on the 19th July 2021, after which all mitigations and restrictions on gatherings will be lifted in the UK.
Last week…
UK: Hebburn West, South Tyneside now at 1,555 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people