South African Covid-19 News and Discussions 3

[MiW]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1365287997281882118

Whats with PE being so innovative

 

[MiW]

What we know about the Novavax vaccine and why it could be an option for SA

The Novavax vaccine has shown to provide protection against the dominant virus variant in SA and the country should pursue the vaccine option, says Professor Shabir Madhi.

www.iol.co.za

In late January, Novavax released results from its phase three trial data showing vaccine efficacy was 86% effective against the UK strain but only 60% effective against South Africa’s dominant virus variant.

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said in a press release: “It is the first vaccine to demonstrate not only high clinical efficacy against Covid-19 but also significant clinical efficacy against both the rapidly emerging UK and South Africa variants”.


Madhi said the Novavax efficacy to the variant and severe disease is likely to be above 85%.

“South Africa should definitely be pursuing the Novavax vaccine. A 60% efficacy against mild-moderate infection is probably as good as you will get for any vaccine.

’’For the AstraZeneca vaccine there was no efficacy, and for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine it’s still unknown. Preventing mild disease is more difficult than preventing severe disease,” he said.

 

[Gordon_R]

Rather complex story about the new SA variant, and the relative effectiveness of antibodies:

Covid-19: People infected with 501Y.V2 may be protected from re-infection, say scientists | News24

Scientists in South Africa have found that people infected by the Covid-19 501Y.V2 variant developed antibodies and may be protected from possible re-infection.

www.news24.com

 

[Geoff.D]

Rather complex story about the new SA variant, and the relative effectiveness of antibodies:

Covid-19: People infected with 501Y.V2 may be protected from re-infection, say scientists | News24

Scientists in South Africa have found that people infected by the Covid-19 501Y.V2 variant developed antibodies and may be protected from possible re-infection.

www.news24.com

Ja a very confusing presentation. Still trying to get my head around the slide contents and relate to the words spoken. Does not make sense.
The "neutralise itself" part is the problem.
I can understand that plasma from people infected with the SA variant could be effective against the original and even effective against other variants.

 

[MiW]

Rather complex story about the new SA variant, and the relative effectiveness of antibodies:

Covid-19: People infected with 501Y.V2 may be protected from re-infection, say scientists | News24

Scientists in South Africa have found that people infected by the Covid-19 501Y.V2 variant developed antibodies and may be protected from possible re-infection.

www.news24.com

Is it trying to say that v.2 protects against v.1 , while v.1 has very limited protection against v.2?
So we should all jump to second gen vaccines?

Never mind , international news are much more clear, and :

Escape of SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 from neutralization by convalescent plasma

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) have arisen independently at multiple locations and may reduce efficacy of current vaccines targeted at the spike glycoprotein. We re-cently described the emergence of VOC in South Africa (501Y.V2 or PANGO lineage B.1.351) with mutations in the spike...

www.medrxiv.org

 

[Geoff.D]

Is it trying to say that v.2 protects against v.1 , while v.1 has very limited protection against v.2?
So we should all jump to second gen vaccines?

Never mind , international news are much more clear, and :

Escape of SARS-CoV-2 501Y.V2 from neutralization by convalescent plasma

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) have arisen independently at multiple locations and may reduce efficacy of current vaccines targeted at the spike glycoprotein. We re-cently described the emergence of VOC in South Africa (501Y.V2 or PANGO lineage B.1.351) with mutations in the spike...

www.medrxiv.org

Much better, The presentation and the commentary ging with it at the media briefing was terribly confusing..
Reading the actual technical report describes what was found properly.

This figure shows what it is all about pretty well.

 

[MiW]

Much better, The presentation and the commentary ging with it at the media briefing was terribly confusing..
Reading the actual technical report describes what was found properly.

This figure shows what it is all about pretty well.

View attachment 1030318

This trial also detected SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, and in the placebo arm there was no difference in infection frequency between participants who were seropositive for SARS-CoV-2 relative to those who were negative, indicating that previous infection with first wave, non-501Y.V2 virus does not protect against re-infection with 501Y.V2.

And this proves that contrary on claims that media wants to scaremonger us, they are very quiet on the negative stuff

 

[MiW]

ANALYSIS | What SA's should know, but don’t, about government's Covid-19 vaccine procurement | News24

There is a lot of vagueness around the government's vaccine programme. some of this vagueness may simply be because the relevant aspects have not yet been finalised. But in relation to other aspects, the information should be available, writes Geo Quinot.

www.news24.com

 

[Willie Trombone]

Fake COVID-19 vaccines seized in South Africa, China: Interpol

The Lyon-based Interpol said 400 vials - equivalent to around 2,400 doses - containing the fake vaccine were found at a warehouse in Germiston outside Johannesburg in South Africa, where officers also recovered fake masks and arrested three Chinese and a Zambian national.

ewn.co.za

 

[Gordon_R]

Fake COVID-19 vaccines seized in South Africa, China: Interpol

The Lyon-based Interpol said 400 vials - equivalent to around 2,400 doses - containing the fake vaccine were found at a warehouse in Germiston outside Johannesburg in South Africa, where officers also recovered fake masks and arrested three Chinese and a Zambian national.

ewn.co.za

There are always some dodgy middlemen and desperate end-users in the 3rd World:

Covid: Police break up 'fake vaccine network' in China and South Africa

Thousands of doses of suspected counterfeit vaccine are seized by police in China and South Africa.

www.bbc.com

In a case in Mexico last month, police arrested six people for allegedly trafficking fake Covid-19 vaccines in the northern border state of Nuevo León.

The suspects are said to have offered vaccines for sale for the equivalent of around $2,000 per dose at a clinic in a suburb of Monterrey.

 

[Willie Trombone]

There are always some dodgy middlemen and desperate end-users in the 3rd World:

Covid: Police break up 'fake vaccine network' in China and South Africa

Thousands of doses of suspected counterfeit vaccine are seized by police in China and South Africa.

www.bbc.com

$2k per dose for a black market substance. People have rocks in their heads both sides of this equation.

The extremes on this planet are getting more and more extreme, from the anti-vaxxers to the so desperate I'll pay R2k for who cares what.

 

[Gordon_R]

$2k per dose for a black market substance. People have rocks in their heads both sides of this equation.

It's supply and demand inflated pricing. Morphine from a pharmacy (Schedule 6 pain relief for cancer) costs R10 for 500ml. Street opiates (basically the same thing) costs R500 per gram.

 

[MiW]

 

[R13...]

There are always some dodgy middlemen and desperate end-users in the 3rd World:

Covid: Police break up 'fake vaccine network' in China and South Africa

Thousands of doses of suspected counterfeit vaccine are seized by police in China and South Africa.

www.bbc.com

$2k for fakes?

 

[Geoff.D]

And this proves that contrary on claims that media wants to scaremonger us, they are very quiet on the negative stuff

No, it does not prove that. The media is so ignorant that they did not even pick up the significance of the above finding. If they had, the media would have capitalised on it.
It was not highlighted by the scientists in their presentations however. So, you could suggest that the scientists deliberately did not draw attention to it, to prevent the media hyping it up.

 

[Geoff.D]

ANALYSIS | What SA's should know, but don’t, about government's Covid-19 vaccine procurement | News24

There is a lot of vagueness around the government's vaccine programme. some of this vagueness may simply be because the relevant aspects have not yet been finalised. But in relation to other aspects, the information should be available, writes Geo Quinot.

www.news24.com

View attachment 1030560

What is also terrible about the information fed to all of us is the incorrect use of the word/s "dose/s".
To most of the public " dose" means one injection. So a delivery of 80 000 "doses" as reported implies 80 000 jabs.
But, what was delivered is 80 000 ampoules. Each ampoule is equivalent to more than one jab.

 

[MiW]

No, it does not prove that. The media is so ignorant that they did not even pick up the significance of the above finding. If they had, the media would have capitalised on it.
It was not highlighted by the scientists in their presentations however. So, you could suggest that the scientists deliberately did not draw attention to it, to prevent the media hyping it up.

They did pick it up months ago , there was a small article about a study from 40k people having v1 4k got v2 ... and then they ignored it... the same way they ignore the excess deaths and the fact that 0.5% extra of the EC population died.

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

High-profile news reporter Karima Brown dies from covid-19

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1367374388778176518

 

[MiW]

What is also terrible about the information fed to all of us is the incorrect use of the word/s "dose/s".
To most of the public " dose" means one injection. So a delivery of 80 000 "doses" as reported implies 80 000 jabs.
But, what was delivered is 80 000 ampoules. Each ampoule is equivalent to more than one jab.

Pfizer has 5 doses in a flask , and with special syringe you can take out sixth , but I've never seen info about the J&J ?

 

[Roger Banana]

Does this news mean the J&J vaccine is useless?