Thought of the Day - March 30 2021 - Vaccine Wars, Bi-Weekly Update

Another two weeks have flown by and AstraZeneca is still in the spotlight. Among the issues:

1. The EU has dropped the unsafe stance and thus most countries have restarted deployment of the AZ vaccine. In fact, the EU has since been working on restricting AstraZeneca from supplying other contracts in advance of the EU - this could affect Canadian supply;

2. India has put a temporary hold on all major exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India as they are short of components due to US restrictions, and so, against the backdrop of increased cases, wants to ensure an adequate domestic supply - Canada has only received 1/4 of the contracted amount to date;

3. The US, who really has limited interest in approving the stuff anyway, just finished a thorough review and have gotten AstraZeneca to admit they have overstated its effectiveness. Figures have now been revised down to 76%;

4. It is now being reported that AstraZeneca is charging countries in the Global South more than countries in the Global North, for example, AZ charges US$5.25 per dose to South Africa, compared to US$2.16 to the European Union;

5. And of course, the big news is that Canada's NACI has just recommended suspension of AZ use in under 55s. All provinces have now stopped. But remember the NACI also recommends that AZ not be used for people 65 and over. So, they are really saying it should only be used on those between 55 and 65. With millions of doses arriving next week I guess Gail and I will be getting a phone call real soon.

Wow, two weeks ago I said AZ should fire their PR department ( Thought of the Day - March 16 - Vaccine Wars ), well they are still not making friends that's for sure.

On the other hand, J&J has been doing a great job behind the scenes. Not sure if someone has passed on the link to this YouTube video Why You Can't Compare COVID-19 Vaccines that is making the rounds. It is not a bad piece of work, but please realize that J&J media influencers are promoting it with full force. In short, it says the J&J effectiveness is lower because they had to launch their trial in more trying conditions than Pfizer and Moderna. In addition, J&J is promoting the figure of 72%, based on a US trial, rather than the 66% global figure. AZ could learn a trick or two from them.

Slovakia: No less than six ministers have stepped down under the backlash for agreeing to purchase Sputnik V. Hungary, on the other hand, continues to ignore Brussels; they have been deploying Sputnik for two months now.

Cuba, which is not allowed access to any of the vaccines approved in Canada, is now in Phase III trials for two (Soberana and Abdala) of its four home-grown vaccine candidates. Iran has already begun widespread trials of Soberana and Mexico is in talks with Cuba to begin trials soon. Suriname and Ghana are reportedly interested in buying Cuban vaccines when the drugs are ready.

Lebanon: The World Bank allocated $34m (£24.5m) to fund the vaccines, enough to cover doses for about a third of the country's population. The plan was to ensure the most vulnerable would have a fighting chance. However, just a couple of weeks later news broke that a group of MPs had been vaccinated inside the parliament, provoking an outcry, and a call for the World Bank to halt the programme and send the money via organizations such as the Red Cross. Instead, Lebanon’s private sector will be bringing in at least 1M doses of the Sputnik V vaccines.

Peru: A vaccination scandal dubbed "VacunaGate" has erupted. It seems that Peru needed to have a domestic trial to test the efficacy of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. Well, guess what? Almost 500 people jumped the queue by taking part in the "trial" including former president Martin Vizcarra and his wife, former ministers of health and foreign affairs, vice-ministers, negotiators, high-profile lobbyists and family members of those in charge of the trial itself.

Ecuador: Ecuadorian investigators raided the health ministry ten days ago as part of a probe into influence-peddling against former health minister Juan Carlos Zevallos, who resigned last month over a vaccine scandal that saw well-connected individuals, including his mother, jump the queue for their coronavirus jabs.

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

Cheers

Cliff