Forgive me for placing this as a story rather than a comment beneath a story where it belongs. I was responding to an article here written about the Oxford vaccine and its treatment of the elderly. I attempted to publish it but was informed the author may have removed the piece. Still, since some have already read the story, I think this placement is justified in the interest of truth. I don’t intend to break protocols again.
I offer these two passages as a direct response to the article outlining German reaction to the Oxford vaccine with regards to seniors. I follow them with some observations of my own.
From the nytimes:“While low numbers of older people were enrolled in AstraZeneca’s [AZ, Oxford] completed clinical trials, making it difficult to assess the vaccine’s efficacy in that group, the newspaper [German] claims were false, the German health ministry later said.”
[Of course seniors—I am one—should be informed that only 12% of the pool in the Oxford tests were elderly—and that more tests should be run among this group. This would enable seniors to make an informed choice about receiving the vaccine. I note that no evidence exists that the Oxford vaccine is less effective with seniors or that it is more harmful to seniors that the other vaccines.’
From Lancet:
Vaccine effective 90% when given in increments of ½ dose first then full dose second. It was also effective against the UK Covid variant 96%.
Some observations
The whole business about the AZ, Oxford vaccine is nauseatingly interesting. Dig a bit and you’ll find political and capitalistic avarice and greed. In Europe, it appears to be a fight between the UK and the EU in the backdrop of Brexit bitterness [no matter that I’m bitter about UK too!]. Worldwide—it’s rich vs. poor. Keep in mind that the Oxford vaccine costs about $3.00 per vaccine; the others can cost up to $30.00—pricing the poor out of the market. Moreover, Both Pfizer and Moderna [P and M] are very difficult to keep fresh and effective and thus have a short shelf-life—they require hyper-cooling machines that are not widely available in rich countries and seldom found in poor ones. I personally am suspicious of the implications of this German accusation. Germany has done an extremely bad job in vaccinating its people and their charge looks like an attempt to get back at the UK for Brexit and to cover their behinds at the same time.
In short and to speculate a bit, the Oxford vaccine offers drug manufacturer AZ far lower profits than that the vaccine offered by P and M. The ease of storage of the Oxford vaccine (regular refrigeration) and the fact that you need ½ the dose on the front end makes it one that corporate giants P and M might want to squeeze out of the picture. Meanwhile if Johnson and Johnson is able to get its vaccine together this may be another target from those hoping to profiteer from the pandemic. Reliable reports indicate that the J and J vaccine will be effective with a single dose—not two like all the others--and like Oxford requires only regular refrigeration.
For me, the race to vaccinate reliably as many as possible is crucial—especially since current vaccines may not be effective against some covid 19 new variants (e.g. South Africa) that have already been identified in the U.S. already. I offer this to advance the dialogue only—not to scold anyone.