Thought of the Day - April 13 2021 - Vaccine Wars, Bi-Weekly Update

Vaccine insanity is still coming thick and fast, a few of these items will seem like old news although they have happened, or been reported, since our last installment at the end of March.

Vaccine Development:

• Winfried Stöcker, a German physician and entrepreneur, claimed to have developed a vaccine that showed no side effects, is easy to produce in large quantities, and is 97% effective in the 100 people vaccinated, proven in serological tests. But instead of receiving the necessary support from German regulatory authorities, they filed formal criminal charges against him, as he did not follow protocol before administering to human patients. So, is Stöcker an unrecognized genius inventor whose work has been hampered by inflexible bureaucracy, or is he an irresponsible Dr. Frankenstein? Your call.

• Leftover drops in vials of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine allowed researchers from Stanford University to sequence the mRNA. This sequence was made available to the public joining the sequence for Pfizer/BioNTech cracked in December. Although the intellectual property behind the rest of the formulation and complex manufacturing is still protected, this will certainly assist countries that are unable to license Pfizer or Moderna as they look for their own solutions.

Vaccine Production:

• J&J's main supplier ruined fifteen million doses of the Janssen vaccine, yes 15,000,000 units of this single-dose vaccine have been lost. In addition, their supply chain has been shut down by the FDA meaning at least 10M more doses will be delayed. This happened earlier in March but took a while to detect. It prompted Biden to cancel a press visit at the last minute and has had J&J's PR department working overtime to downplay this disaster.

Their press release included statements like:

• "one batch of drug substance that did not meet quality standards" - no mention of fifteen million.

• "Emergent Biosolutions, a site not yet authorized to manufacture drug substance for our COVID-19 vaccine" - no mention they were the primary manufacturer in the US and had already sent product to the filling and finishing company.

• "This is an example of the rigorous quality control applied to each batch of drug substance" - no, it is an example of the lack of rigorous quality control being applied.

• "In coordination with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, these steps will enable us to safely deliver an additional 24 million single-shot vaccine doses through April. Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward-looking statements" . . . The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements." - talk about 'weasel-words'.

While there are some things that PR just can't fix, I am still surprised how effective they have been in suppressing this story - NYT for example ran the story with the headline "J&J's Vaccine Delayed By a U.S. Factory Mix-Up" - dang, and I thought the UK was the master of understatement.

• Hong Kong has suspended the Pfizer vaccine after packaging flaws were found.

Vaccine Approvals:

• With all of its troubles, AstraZeneca now has one more issue to deal with, whether or not to apply for approval in the US. You see as AstraZeneca is not a US domestic company the US will either not approve, or will approve and donate the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries. If they do not apply, their competitors will be quick to suggest AstraZeneca has more skeletons in the closet. Sounds like a lose-lose for AstraZeneca.

Vaccine Deployment:

• As the EU continues to struggle with vaccine approvals, Austria has joined Hungary (the EU country with the greatest percentage vaccinated) in ordering the Sputnik V vaccine. As reported before, Czechia and Slovakia (two of the hardest-hit countries in the EU) never managed to place orders as they are so caught up in political turmoil. The announcement in Austria came just as the story broke that Argentina's President Alberto Fernández has tested positive for the coronavirus, despite receiving the Sputnik V vaccine in January.

• Vaccine supply is now being used as leverage by China with Turkey to curtail their support for the Uighur refugees. China has already delayed delivery of the first shipment of the Sinovac vaccine to Turkey after a “customs-related problem” arose.

Vaccine Side Effects:

• The UK has now admitted they have way more cases of the AstraZeneca "rare" blood clotting issue than previously reported:

  • March 1 - no reported cases in 8 million vaccinations;

  • March 18 - 5 cases in 11 million vaccinations (so one in 2 million);

  • April 1 - 30 cases in 18 million vaccinations (so one 500,000);

  • April 10 - 79 case in 20 million vaccinations (so one in 250,000) - and 19 deaths.

• US health officials have halted J&J vaccinations across the country after a rare blood-clotting disorder emerged in six recipients. Last week US health officials in North Carolina stopped administering J&J after at least 26 people experienced adverse reactions, including fainting.

• US studies report more side effects among patients who received the Moderna vaccine rather than the Pfizer shot.

Anyway, enough for this week. Against this backdrop, I guess our domestic squabbles do not look so bad after all.

Cheers

Cliff