The COVID-2019 Thread

[cyrille]

Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended

Large crowds trash restaurants and brawl in streets

Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended | Miami | The Guardian

[panama hat]

1000 arrests . . . amazing . . .


An insight into NZ's population is reflected in the Covid-19 Government Website

[strigils]

Well let hope this doesn't escalate, i imagine there is a lot of phone calls going on behind the scenes.

Covid vaccines: EU ‘set to block AstraZeneca exports to UK’

Ban could delay British vaccination programme by two months, it is claimed

The European Union is set to block exports of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to the UK, according to reports.

Senior officials told Bloomberg news agency that any requests for doses produced in Europe would be reviewed "very severely" until the British-based company fulfilled its contract with the bloc.

Any vaccines and ingredients produced in European factories “will for now be reserved for local deliveries,” the source added.

The comments were made ahead of a meeting of EU leaders to discuss a possible export ban on Thursday.It comes after defence minister Ben Wallace said any attempt to block Covid-19 vaccine exports to the UK would be "counterproductive".

Mr Wallace added: “The grown-up thing would be for the European Commission and some of the European leaders to not indulge in rhetoric but to recognise the obligations that we all have.”

An EU export ban could delay the UK’s vaccination programme by two months, according to analysis carried out for the Guardian . However the same analysis found the EU programme would only be sped up by a week if it kept the supplies meant for the UK.

Reuters reported the vaccine row is focused on a factory in the Netherlands which features in AstraZeneca contracts signed with both Britain and the EU.

An EU official claimed that whatever was produced in the plant, run by the subcontractor Halix in Leiden, had to go to Europe.

“The Brits are insisting that the Halix plant in the Netherlands must deliver the drug substance produced there to them. That doesn’t work,” the official added.

Downing Street declined to comment specifically on the reports.

Boris Johnson is expected phone EU leaders early this week to urge them ot to blockade vaccines manufactured in Europe.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/astrazeneca-vaccine-eu-uk-covid-b1820339.html

[harrybarracuda]

Well let hope this doesn't escalate, i imagine there is a lot of phone calls going on behind the scenes.

Covid vaccines: EU ‘set to block AstraZeneca exports to UK’

I guess a lot of the remoaners are cringing in embarrassment right now.

Thankfully the EU's attempt at fucking over the convicts is getting resolved.

The approval of locally-produced batches of the AstraZeneca vaccine by Australia’s drugs regulator is “a major advantage” that will probably address drastic shortages, an infectious diseases expert says.
On Sunday, the Therapeutic Goods Administration said the AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured in Australia by CSL had been approved, describing it in a statement as a “critical and very exciting” milestone.
Another 6 million higher-risk Australians became eligible for the vaccine on Monday as the next stage of the rollout, phase 1b, began.
Prof Lyn Gilbert, an infectious diseases physician, who is also a member of the federal Infection Control Expert Group, said this would “eventually address shortages due to the EU withholding some shipments”.

Australian-produced AstraZeneca vaccines will address ‘drastic shortages’ due to lack of EU supply | Australia news | The Guardian

[harrybarracuda]

Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended

Large crowds trash restaurants and brawl in streets

Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended | Miami | The Guardian

"“I just feel like it’s really not fair,” tourist Heather Price told NBC 6. “People paid a lot of money to come all the way out here, just to not be able to do the activities they wanted to.”"

Well if the activities are spreading the virus and being violent drunks, tough fucking shit.

[bsnub]

Well if the activities are spreading the virus and being violent drunks, tough fucking shit.

Well it should have never even came to that. If the piece of shit governor of Floriduh DeSanitis didn't open up the entire state these people would never have bothered to come in the first place. This debacle is 100% on him.

[bsnub]

Florida on Sunday became the first state to have more than 1,000 known cases of coronavirus variants.The United States reported another 834 variant cases just since Thursday, reporting 6,638 known cases, Centers for Disease Control data show.

Florida reported another 158 cases, bringing its tally to 1,070 even as the state's coronavirus case counts have been trending down.

Florida leads the country in B.1.1.7, a variant first seen in the United Kingdom, as well as the P.1 variant first seen in Brazil.

Florida first state to cross 1,000 mark in coronavirus variant cases

[misskit]

Human trials start on Thai-developed COVID vaccine

THAILAND: Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed that the government today (Mar 22) started human trials of a domestically-developed COVID-19 vaccine which it expects to roll out next year.

Anutin said the vaccine would provide more flexibility with the country’s existing vaccine policy.


Thailand is aiming to have half of the adult population inoculated by the end of this year and is currently using vaccines from China’s Sinovac and British-Swedish manufacturer AstraZeneca.

“Even though we can produce vaccines in the country, it is from technology transfer and under management of brands,” Anutin said.


“But today, if we are successful we can set our own direction.”


The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), Mahidol University’s Tropical Medicine Department and an American non-profit are the organisations behind the vaccine development which uses an inactivated virus to trigger immunity.


The vaccine modifies the avian Newcastle Disease virus with a COVID-19 spike protein and is replicated using egg-based technology, the GPO said.


“The vaccine, produced by Thais for Thais, is expected to be used next year,” said Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, chairman of the Mahidol University Council.


Bangjong Mahaisavariya, the dean of Mahidol University, confirmed 460 volunteers will be accepted for the human trials with 210 being used in phase one. It is expected phase two will commence in July with results received by year’s-end.


An additional homegrown vaccine is under development by Chulalongkorn University which uses Messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and is expected to start human trials soon.


Amid tight global supplies and concerns around certain vaccines already available, certain countries such as Japan and Taiwan have turned to developing their own; Vietnam expects its home-developed vaccine to be available before the end of this year.


Human trials start on Thai-developed COVID vaccine

[strigils]

An additional homegrown vaccine is under development by Chulalongkorn University which uses Messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and is expected to start human trials soon.

Which is great but they would do well to have secured and delivered vaccine for the population, which they could have done by now. AZ is available to produce under licence on a non-profit basis as is the case in India.

[strigils]

I am quite happy with my shite jab

AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and no blood clot issues, new US trial data shows

Study of 32,000 people in North and South America finds jab is 100 per cent effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalisation

AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine is both safe and highly effective, new trial data from the United States shows.

Research involving more than 30,000 participants revealed the jab was 79 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 100 per cent effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalisation.

Scientists also said there were no concerns associated with blood clots, adding weight to rulings by UK and European regulators that the AstraZeneca jab is safe to use.

The study, which involved 32,449 participants in the US, Chile and Peru – 20,000 of whom were given the vaccine, with the rest were given dummy jabs – also found the vaccine was effective in all ages, including the over-65s.

AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and no blood clot issues, new US trial data shows | The Independent

[bsnub]

AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and no blood clot issues, new US trial data shows

Still not approved in the US and there is a reason why. We are giving it away...

US agrees to share AstraZeneca vaccines with Mexico, Canada

US agrees to share AstraZeneca vaccines with Mexico, Canada

[harrybarracuda]

I think you rather understated the most important bit of information there.

100 per cent effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalisation.

[strigils]

^ that's why i am more than happy to have had it. I'd take any vaccine on offer and be glad of it. There are countries with barely a dose between them and the jingoistic attitude of mine is better than yours is all a bit unsavoury. The other important thing with AZ is it is made available to those who wish to produce it under license and therefore poorer countries don't have pay for expensive doses from manufacturers who won't license and are doing very nicely indeed out of it. Of course having the production capability is another matter.

[Klondyke]

Just seeing how the EU's Josep Borrel is announcing fresh sanctions on many countries - 8 of them? - haven't got whether also the Saudi are included, perhaps the UN cries about the Yemen disaster are exaggerated, better to concentrate on human rights of others...

And it's quite heart-breaking the care about others far away when the own EU citizens are now facing enormous disaster with COVID-19 vaccine deliveries, what brings a terrible fighting within EU leaders, reaching over the Channel to BoJo...


Johnson lobbies EU leaders in bid to avert vaccine export blocks
Brussels rejects London’s claim of contractual right to supply from AstraZeneca plant in Netherlands
Brussels 21 HOURS AGO

Boris Johnson, British prime minister, will this week urge EU national capitals to veto a suggestion from Brussels that would block AstraZeneca vaccine exports to the UK and push post-Brexit relations to a new low.

London has laid claim to millions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab produced at a Dutch factory, sparking a fierce battle with the European Commission, which says they should be used in the EU.

European heads of government are preparing to decide at a summit beginning on Thursday whether to press ahead with a threat to stop exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the UK from the Halix site in the Netherlands.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

[strigils]

The problem with such unilateral action is that vaccine production relies on a lot of materials not all of which the block controls.

[Joe 90]

What went wrong with the EU vaccine rollout?
In June 2020, all 27 member states joined up to a scheme giving the EU central responsibility for buying vaccines.

However, the EU was slower than the UK to sign a contract with AstraZeneca, which caused supply problems.

It also signed deals with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which ran into early problems with production and distribution.

In February, Ms von der Leyen acknowledged the EU's vaccine failures, saying: "We were late to authorise. We were too optimistic when it came to massive production and perhaps too confident that what we ordered would actually be delivered on time."

The EU has reached agreements to buy three other vaccines, once they pass clinical trials - Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson and CureVac.

Did the UK roll out vaccines quicker because of Brexit?
The UK approved the Pfizer vaccine in November, nearly three weeks before the EU regulators.

The government claimed that being outside the EU allowed it to be more nimble in this area.

However, the UK's approval of the jab would have been permitted anyway under EU law - a point made by the head of the UK medicines regulator.

Chart shows more than 27m vaccines doses have been given
The UK could have joined the EU vaccine scheme last year while it was still in a transition phase with the EU, but it chose not to.

If it had, the UK might not have been able to do as many deals with vaccine companies.

Our cousin's across the pond have approved and analyzed the AZ vaccine at over 80% effective.

Covid vaccine: US trial of AstraZeneca jab confirms safety - BBC News

[panama hat]

Thank God, this'll keep the Brit-Trash on their vile island and out of the EU. Success on both sides.

COVID-19: Holidaying abroad will mean a £5k fine under new coronavirus laws set to come in next week

New COVID laws will mean £5k fines for taking a foreign holiday and more protests will be allowed.

Attempting to take a holiday abroad will result in a £5,000 fine under new coronavirus laws.
The legislation covering COVID-19 restrictions includes a ban on leaving the UK without a reasonable excuse - with the hefty fine for those breaking the rule.

New rules will also mean protests will be considered a permitted exception to the ban on mass gatherings.

MPs will vote on the laws - officially titled the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 - on Thursday.

If approved they would come into effect next Monday - 29 March.
On foreign travel, the new law states that no one can "leave England to travel to a destination outside the United Kingdom, or travel to, or be present at, an embarkation point for the purpose of travelling from there to a destination outside the United Kingdom" without a reasonable excuse.

Fines of £5,000 can be issued to those who break this rule, according to the regulations.
Foreign travel for a holiday is already illegal, but the punishment is a new measure.
A £200 fixed penalty notice can already be issued to those who fail to fill in a travel declaration form, which includes personal details and reason for travel, for those leaving the UK.

COVID-19: Holidaying abroad will mean a PS5k fine under new coronavirus laws set to come in next week | Politics News | Sky News

[Joe 90]

Pamela's shat again

German federal and state leaders have agreed on a radical shutdown over the Easter holidays. Supermarkets will only be allowed to open for one day.
Germany will implement emergency measures to halt the easing of coronavirus restrictions and extend the current lockdown through to April 18, officials announced on Tuesday.

The country will enter a stricter lockdown from April 1 to April 5, over the Easter holiday period. During this time, grocery stores will only able to open on the Saturday that falls between these dates.

Talks between leaders of Germany's 16 federal states and Chancellor Angela Merkel lasted until the early hours of the morning following a lengthy interruption.

Health officials have warned a "third wave" of infections has exceeded the level at which authorities say intensive care units will be overburdened.

What are the new measures?
Over the five-day shutdown period, churches will be asked to hold services marking the Christian holy Easter festival online.
No more than five adults from two households will be able to meet over the five-day period.
Testing and vaccination centers can remain open.
Gatherings in public places will be prohibited.
Almost all shops will be shut during the five days. Only grocers may open on Saturday, April 3.
Anyone from Germany holidaying abroad will have to be tested before boarding a flight to Germany.
Nationwide lockdown restrictions will be extended to April 18, past the current expiration date of March 28.
The "emergency brake" will halt further reopenings and will apply to areas exceeding 100 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a seven-day period.

If an area has an incidence rate of over 100 for three consecutive days, harsher lockdown measures will once again apply. Museums, galleries and sports facilities will once again have to close.

[panama hat]

Can you confine your personal attacks to the threads you already crap in, Joe . . . Good Boy. (witty with your name-change, excellent work)

[strigils]

Anti-vaxers don't you love em. Now i think there should be no choice in a stuation like this and i am all for free choce but working in an environment with some of the most vulnerable in society and refusing the vaccine should not be allowed. Want to keep your job then have it otherwise go and find a different one. Also this issue of so called vaccine passport being discriminatory is all a liberal sideshow, make them compulsory and stop pandering to the minority.

Care home workers in England face mandatory Covid jabs under plans

Leaked paper suggests Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock have agreed to the proposal

Care home workers in England could be legally required to have a Covid-19 vaccination under plans being considered by the government.

According to details of a paper submitted to the Covid-19 operations cabinet subcommittee last week and leaked to the Telegraph, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, have agreed to the proposal in order to protect vulnerable residents.

The move would prove highly controversial and could result in legal challenges. The cabinet subcommittee paper warned a large number of social care workers may quit if the change is made, and said that lawsuits on human rights grounds could be possible. A government spokesman insisted “no final decisions have been made” but did not rule out jabs being made compulsory for care workers. The government is also reviewing the introduction of vaccination passports.

If the change is approved it would affect most of the 1.5 million workers in England’s adult social care sector, who would be obliged by law to have a Covid jab.

The paper also makes clear that a similar legal requirement is being considered for some frontline healthcare workers, including those on wards, but a decision on that has yet to be taken.

One line is said to read: “The prime minister and the secretary of state [Hancock] have discussed on several occasions the progress that is being made to immunise social care workers against Covid-19 and have agreed – in order to reach a position of much greater safety for care recipients – to put in place legislation to require vaccinations among the workforce.”

Legally forcing workers to have a vaccine raises serious legal and ethical questions. Government ministers including Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, have previously called similar ideas mandating vaccination, including vaccine passports, “discriminatory”.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/22/care-home-workers-in-england-could-be-legally-required-to-have-covid-vaccine

[panama hat]

Now i think there should be no choice in a stuation like this and i am all for free choce but working in an environment with some of the most vulnerable in society and refusing the vaccine should not be allowed.

Seems logical . . . no vaccine, no contact with clients/patients/staff . . . which means no job.


Some countries doing well (yes, including the UK) and others not so much.

Oh, NZ still at 18.000 vaccinations.

[harrybarracuda]

Probably explains why Thailand mysteriously "forgot" about the 7 day quarantine for those with a "vaccine certificate".

Tired of waiting to get your vaccine appointment? For just $500, you could get a COVID-19 vaccine dose tomorrow (overnight shipping not included). Too rich for your blood? How about a vaccination card for just $150?

Security researchers have seen a spike in listings on dark web marketplaces in recent weeks. The sites are advertising everything from vaccine doses to falsified vaccine certifications and negative test results. Currently, more than 1,200 listings are offering a variety of vaccines, including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, and Sinopharm.

Investigations by researchers at security firm Check Point have been monitoring the sites for COVID-19-related activity since January, and they report a three-fold increase in such activity over the last three months. It’s unclear if the doses are legitimate, and even if they were, there’s no guarantee that the vials have been stored at the correct temperature, potentially rendering them useless.

Last week, Check Point researchers based in Israel attempted to buy the Sinopharm vaccine from one vendor, said Ekram Ahmed, a spokesperson for the company. “We tried to negotiate and buy the Chinese vaccine through one of the vendors,” he told Ars. The team messaged the vendor, who directed them to continue the negotiations on Telegram. Once there, the vendor provided reassurances that the vaccine doses were legitimate. The researchers sent $500 to a Bitcoin wallet, and while they have received a FedEx shipping label, they have yet to receive the shipment.

Dark web vendors are probably doing better business selling falsified vaccine cards and negative test results. “Lately, we’re seeing more vaccination certificates being offered” than vaccines, Ahmed said. “It’s probably a two-to-one ratio.”

With COVID-19 testing becoming more widespread, the price for negative test results is as low as $25. Vaccination cards are harder to come by and are selling for more, around $200. These certificates are becoming passports of sorts, allowing people a freedom of movement they haven’t enjoyed in months. The European Union is in the process of creating a “digital green certificate” that they hope to roll out by June to allow its citizens and residents to travel across borders. In the US, proof of vaccination could grant people access to certain venues, and employers may require it of their employees to return to the workplace.

The researchers have alerted Europol to the listing and are contacting others today.

Ahmed, the Check Point spokesperson, said that the sellers they contacted on dark web marketplaces were hoping to set up long-term relationships with their customers. The target market, he said, “are folks on the ground, people who are looking to spread and sell at the local level in bulk.”

Dark web bursting with COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine passports | Ars Technica

[russellsimpson]

‘I was sort of stunned’: Fauci and U.S. officials say AstraZeneca released ‘outdated information’ from Covid-19 vaccine trial
U.S. health officials raised concerns early Tuesday that positive results that AstraZeneca announced Monday for its Covid-19 vaccine may have been based on “an incomplete view of the efficacy data” from a clinical trial and relied on “outdated information,” throwing another curveball in the saga of the company’s vaccine.
In a statement issued soon after midnight Tuesday morning, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said it had been informed about the data questions by the data and safety monitoring board auditing the trial. DSMBs consist of independent medical experts who review data produced from clinical trials.
“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,” NIAID said.
In an interview Tuesday morning with STAT, Anthony Fauci, the head of the NIAID, said the DSMB raised concerns because it felt the results in a AstraZeneca press release Monday looked more favorable than more recent data from the vaccine study had shown.


“I was sort of stunned,” Fauci said. “The data safety and monitoring board were concerned that the data that went into the press release by AZ was not the most accurate and up-to-date data. That is what the DSMB communicated to AZ in a rather harsh note. Having seen that letter we could not just let it go unanswered.”
Asked why NIAID released its unusual statement, Fauci said, “We just felt we could not remain silent. Because if we did remain silent, we could be understandably accused of covering something up. And we definitely didn’t want to be in that position.”


He added: “In my mind, it’s an unforced error by the company.”


Related: Winners, losers, and in-betweeners: How pharma companies stacked up in the Covid-19 vaccine race
The results released Monday by AstraZeneca came from an interim analysis of a 32,000-volunteer trial through Feb. 17. In a statement Tuesday, the company said it would “immediately engage” with the DSMB “to share our primary analysis with the most up-to-date efficacy data.” The company said it planned to announce results from the primary analysis within 48 hours.


“We have reviewed the preliminary assessment of the primary analysis and the results were consistent with the interim analysis,” the company said. “We are now completing the validation of the statistical analysis.”The two-paragraph statement from the NIAID opened another chapter in the path of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed along with researchers from the University of Oxford. It came not even 24 hours after the company announced in a press release Monday that its vaccine was 79% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in a U.S. trial, a result that was better than expected based on earlier trials and appeared to help resolve some questions about the robustness of the vaccine. The company also said the immunization reduced severe Covid-19 and hospitalization by 100%.


The results were seen as a final step before the company would apply for authorization from U.S. regulators for its shot, which is already approved in other countries.
Related: The curious case of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine
The company’s vaccine had been under scrutiny most recently after European countries paused their rollout last week over safety concerns tied to blood clots, but the European Medicines Agency subsequently said the vaccine’s benefits outweighed its risks and the campaigns restarted.


Based on the trial data released Monday, AstraZeneca said the study identified no new safety concerns. A specific review found no risk of blood clots. The study also did not see a specific type of clot in blood vessels near the brain that the EMA said might be associated with the vaccine. However, this type of clot, called a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, is so rare it might not be expected to occur in even a large clinical trial. The NIAID statement Tuesday only cited DSMB concerns about efficacy data, and did not mention safety issues.
The two-dose AstraZeneca vaccine is seen as a great hope to help expand vaccine access around the world because it is less expensive than other Covid-19 vaccines and easier to manufacture and distribute than some others. It is being widely used in Europe and increasingly in Asia.

AstraZeneca may have used 'outdated information' on vaccine - STAT

Thought I'd post that up.

[harrybarracuda]

I think they must have some meaningful data by now out of 12m+ vaccinations.

[strigils]

Our dear neighbours are it seems looking to expand their remit to block supplies to other countries other than the UK.

Its fair to say they are doubling down on their fuk ups and the perfrct little world inside the Block as espoused by SeekignAReturnToTheUK is looking remarkably like we all knew it; run by a bunch of career politicians, paid whether they fail or not, their own ltltle Vaccine centre in Brussels to visit when they aren't sitting in the war room looking for other countries to blame and all the while Rome, Paris et al burns.

Whatever the case, if they escallate, the consequences will live long in diplomatic minds.