Category: Sinovac
Thailand: seven medical staff suffered partial paralysis after receiving Sinovac #coronavirus vaccine
Seven people suffered from partial paralysis after receiving the Sinovac vaccine, a doctor from Chulalongkorn University said. Six of them were in Rayong and one at the Queen Savang Vadhana Memorial Hospital in Chon Buri’s Sri Racha district. Their conditions improved after doctors administered medication to dissolve blood clots.
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Brazil: rapid spread and high impact of the #coronavirus VOC P.1 in Sao Paulo – March 2021
Here, we show evidence of how fast the VOC P.1 has spread in the most populated city in South America – Sao Paulo. From March 1st to March 15th, 427 nasopharyngeal samples were collected from 245 HP and 125 from HCW outpatients (25.5% and 23.2% of positivity rate, respectively). We then selected 60 samples with Ct value ≤ 30 (38 samples from HP, and 22 from HCW). All HCW presented only mild symptoms and did not need hospitalization.
Of the 60 selected samples, 52 whole genome sequences were generated (30 from HP and 22 from HCW) following the sequencing protocol using the Illumina MiSeq platform and the analysis pipeline described by Resende et al (8). The SARS-CoV-2 lineages were classified by the PANGO lineages nomenclature (9). Genome sequences generated have been deposited at the EpiCoV database on GISAID https://www.gisaid.org/) under accession numbers EPI_ISL_1464630 to EPI_ISL_1464677.
Of the 52 sequenced samples, 44 (84.4%) were identified as VOC P.1; 5 (9.2%) as VOI P.2; 1 (1,9%) as B.1.1.7, and 2 (3,8%) B.1.1.28.
The most notable variants circulating in the second wave, including B.1.1.7 (detected first in the United Kingdom) and B.1.1.351 (detected first in South Africa), and P.1, are related to an increase of transmissibility (2,10). Interestingly, the P.1 variant was first identified in the State of Amazonas, about 3,800 kilometers apart from São Paulo (5). It is evident that the P.1 variant prevailed during the first two weeks of March, showing a regular distribution among HP and HCW with no difference in terms of age, sex, vaccination, and outcome (Table). From the first to the second weeks of March, we observed a higher frequency of P.1 (78.6% and 91.7%, respectively). In this survey, only one sample from a HP was identified as VOC B.1.1.7. The other two samples were identified as B.1.1.28, a widely spread lineage during the first wave in Brazil.
There is a broad discussion about whether the available vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 will be less effective at preventing infection with the emerging variants (10). In this work, 14 samples (26.9%) of the 52 sequenced samples were from individuals that had received at least one dose of vaccine, ChAdOx1-S/nCoV-19 (n=2) or SINOVAC (n=26). Although they were vaccinated, they could not be considered immunized, regarding the days after vaccination.
Among the hospitalized patients, 19 (63%) were admitted to the intensive care unit, from which nine were discharged and ten died. Comparing the RT-PCR Ct values of all attended patients since the first wave, we did not observe any difference in the Ct mean values with those of P.1 (data not shown). May 2020 registered the peak of number of positive cases with a Ct mean of 23.6. Now, as of April 2021, we are facing a rise in the number of cases. However, the Ct mean was 24.9, which may indicate that the spread of P.1 does not contribute to an actual increase in the viral load.
Image by Luciano Teixeira from Pixabay
China: Our vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” says the director of Chinese CCDC
China’s top disease control official says the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines is low and the government is considering mixing them to give them a boost. Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses in other countries while also trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of Western vaccines.
“It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao said.
The effectiveness rate of a coronavirus vaccine from Sinovac, a Chinese developer, at preventing symptomatic infections has been found to be as low as 50.4% by researchers in Brazil. By comparison, the vaccine made by Pfizer has been found to be 97% effective.
Image by Willfried Wende from Pixabay
Sinovac #coronavirus vaccine – 27.7% effective within the first two weeks, 56.5% effective two weeks after the second dose
The study by the University of Chile found inoculation to be 56.5 percent effective in protecting recipients two weeks after the second dose, and 27.7 percent effective within the first two weeks.
But for a single dose, efficacy in the 28 days between the first and second dose was only three percent — on par with the margin of error in such studies, it said.
Image by Victor Millan from Pixabay
France: Scientists recommend changing #coronavirus vaccination technique after AstraZeneca thrombosis investigation
Thus, one of the hypotheses linking the vaccine to the occurrence of severe thrombosis could be an accidental intravenous injection which, in the presence of factors not fully identified, would generate a discordant immune reaction with activation of the platelets, potentially associated with a NET effect or with a decrease in the level of ACE2 on the surface of endothelial cells, leading to an increased risk of thrombosis. A simple way to overcome this hypothetical accidental intravascular injection could be to verify the absence of blood return during vaccination, which is not currently recommended by the [French] Ministry of Health
Original excerpt In French:
Ainsi, l’une des hypothèses liant le vaccin à la survenue de thrombose grave pourrait être une injection intraveineuse accidentelle qui, en présence de facteurs non intégralement identifiés, engendrerait une réaction immunitaire discordante avec activation des plaquettes, potentiellement associé à un effet NET ou à une diminution du taux d’ACE2 à la surface des cellules endothéliales, conduisant à un sur-risque thrombotique.
Un moyen simple de pallier cette hypothétique injection intravasculaire accidentelle pourrait être de vérifier l’absence de retour sanguin lors de la vaccination, ce que ne recommande actuellement pas le ministère de la santé
From a technically detailed report by “Du côté de la science” (On the side of science) – In French
See also: Denmark’s SSI recommends changes to syringe injection method for #coronavirus vaccines
Chile heads back into #coronavirus lockdown despite massive vaccination campaign with Sinovac vaccine
Chile’s big coronavirus vaccine bet on China’s Sinovac shots. Chile hopes to reach herd immunity by the middle of the year and is nearly halfway to vaccinating its entire population. The Chinese made Sinovac vaccine has played a major part in the campaign, despite not releasing final phase data.
“This Monday the most restrictive measures to stop contagions begin to take effect: curfew at 9 p.m. and border closures
On this day, the borders will be closed for at least 30 days, and the curfew will begin at 9:00 p.m., extending until 5 a.m. There will also be new limitations to essential activities, where by essential good will be understood those essential goods for subsistence, telework, real estate security, distance education.“
Graph courtesy of Ourworldindata.org
Two-thirds of epidemiologists warn mutations could render current #coronavirus vaccines ineffective in a year or less
In a survey of 77 epidemiologists from 28 countries, carried out by The People’s Vaccine Alliance, two-thirds thought that we had a year or less before the virus mutates to the extent that the majority of first-generation vaccines are rendered ineffective and new or modified vaccines are required. Of those surveyed, almost a third gave a timeframe of nine months or less. Fewer than one in eight said they believed that mutations would never render the current vaccines ineffective.
The overwhelming majority —88 percent— said that persistent low vaccine coverage in many countries would make it more likely for vaccine resistant mutations to appear.
Image by Ian Ingalula from Pixabay
Denmark’s SSI recommends changes to syringe injection method for #coronavirus vaccines
“Usually one does not need to aspirate before injecting a vaccine. However, in the context of investigating a possible association between injection of covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca and the occurrence of rare but severe cases of blood clots and bleeding, SSI recommends, for the time being, on a precautionary principle, to aspirate before administration. This applies to all the approved covid-19 vaccines, both for injection into the deltoid muscle, but also for the alternative option of injection into the vastus lateralis muscle, if injection into the deltoid muscle is not possible.”
SSI new vaccination recommendations
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After problems with blood clots: Statens Serum Institut recommends new vaccine technology
Several Danish doctors have expressed concern that a widespread technique may have been one of the reasons why several people around Europe have developed fatal blood clots after being injected with the corona vaccine from AstraZeneca.
Corona vaccines must be injected into the muscle, intramuscularly as it is called. And to make sure that the needle has not hit a blood vessel instead, it is now recommended that you pull the plunger back a little to see if blood is included. If this happens, you must insert again before injecting the vaccine.
Usually it is not necessary to withdraw the plunger to give a vaccine, writes SSI, but so far it is the newly recommended method. The Danish Health and Medicines Authority has long recommended the same method.
Czech president blames country’s #coronavirus deaths on refusal to use Sputnik V and Sinopharm vaccines
President Miloš Zeman is calling for the county’s health minister and state drug agency director to be removed from office for rejecting the use of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, which has not yet received EU approval. In an interview on Wednesday, the Czech head of state also advocated not waiting for Brussels to act before using the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.
Full Radio Prague International report
Image by Jakub Hruška from Pixabay
Two more dead in Hong Kong after getting Sinovac #coronavirus vaccine
Two more people have died after getting the Sinovac Covid-19 jab, Hong Kong health authorities revealed on Saturday night
In total, six people have died locally after receiving the [Chinese] mainland-made Sinovac shots, although experts concluded there were no direct links to the jabs in the first two deaths and they were still looking into the other cases.
One of the latest deaths was of an 80-year-old man who had diabetes and hypertension and had suffered a stroke. He died of ischemic bowel disease, the authorities said. The other case involved a 67-year-old man, who also had diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Another 63-year-old man with heart and liver problems was in a critical condition on Saturday. He suffered a stroke.
69yr old man in Hong Kong suffers facial paralysis following Sinovac #coronavirus vaccination
Hong Kong reported its first case of a patient experiencing facial paralysis after being vaccinated for Covid-19 last week. A 69-year-old man with a history of hypertension received the Sinovac vaccine on March 6, and began developing Bell’s palsy symptoms around two hours after getting jabbed.
The 69-year-old man who suffered from facial paralysis first reported feeling discomfort in his left eye and could not close it completely shortly after receiving the vaccine. By the next morning he was drooling from the left side of his mouth, and visited a hospital. He was later discharged on March 8.
Four deaths have so far been recorded among people who had recently received the Sinovac jab, the first two of which – involving a 63-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, both with chronic diseases – were included in Friday’s report.
Sinovac #Coronavirus #Vaccine “significantly less effective than what previous data suggested”
The São Paulo-based Butantan Institute – which is running final-stage clinical trials for CoronaVac, manufactured by Beijing-based Sinovac – submitted new data to Brazil’s health regulator on Tuesday, listing an efficacy rate of 50.4 per cent. The numbers were confirmed at a press conference by officials from the research institute, which is funded by the São Paulo state government.
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
Are mRNA #coronavirus vaccines safe in the long term?
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be the first-ever messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines brought to market for human patients.
When Moderna was just finishing its Phase I trial, The Independent wrote about the vaccine and described it this way: “It uses a sequence of genetic RNA material produced in a lab that, when injected into your body, must invade your cells and hijack your cells’ protein-making machinery called ribosomes to produce the viral components that subsequently train your immune system to fight the virus.”
“In this case, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 is programmed to make your cells produce the coronavirus’ infamous coronavirus spike protein that gives the virus its crown-like appearance (corona is crown in Latin) for which it is named,” wrote The Independent.
Oxford University’s AstraZeneca, the Russian’s Sputnik V and the Israel Institute for Biological Research’s Brilife are all based on more traditional technologies
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/could-an-mrna-vaccine-be-dangerous-in-the-long-term-649253
#Brazil suspends #Sinovac #COVID-19 vaccine trial due to adverse event
Brazil’s health regulator has suspended a clinical trial for China’s Sinovac coronavirus vaccine citing a severe adverse event, surprising the trial organisers who countered there had been a death but it was unrelated to the vaccine.