1st Mar 2021 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=212 lockdown_exit

Get vaccinated, save lives

The Washington Post Health experts say the coronavirus vaccines may do more than protect recipients from covid19. Researchers say people who are vaccinated and still contract the virus may carry less of it and also shed less of it meaning those whom they expose to it may not become as sick. There isnt a lot of evidence yet to support this hypothesis but researchers say it is likely the case based largely on observations in animal studies as well as some preliminary research in humans. This however doesnt mean that vaccinated people should stop taking precautions such as wearing a mask. Even if youre vaccinated and youre going out keep masking up until we get more people vaccinated said Ilhem Messaoudi director of the Center for Virus Research at the University of California at Irvine. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/02/27/covid-vaccine-viral-load/ 27th Feb 2021

Vaccinated people may let their guard drop

The Guardian Prof Susan Michie the director of UCLs Centre for Behaviour Change cited evidence from previous vaccine rollouts recent national surveys suggesting people would be less likely to abide by the rules and evidence from Israel which has the highest Covid vaccination rate in the world indicating this may be the case. The concern is that as the vaccination programme rolls out and more people are getting vaccinated themselves and seeing other people in their community getting vaccinated that people may drop their guard she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. She referred to evidence from Lyme disease and influenza vaccine rollouts where those vaccinated were less likely to adhere to preventative behaviours along with national surveys from December in which 29 of people said that after getting vaccinated they would adhere less strictly and 11 said they would not follow the rules. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/27/people-less-likely-adhere-covid-rules-after-vaccination 27th Feb 2021

Public health messaging - what we can do better

The Atlantic One might have expected the initial approval of the coronavirus vaccines to spark similar jubilationespecially after a brutal pandemic year. But that didnt happen. Instead the steady drumbeat of good news about the vaccines has been met with a chorus of relentless pessimism. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/how-public-health-messaging-backfired/618147/ 28th Feb 2021

Could Test and Trace be an unwitting casualty of ramped up vaccination programmes?

The Independent Just five weeks ago Los Angeles County was conducting more than 350000 weekly coronavirus tests including at a massive drivethru site at Dodger Stadium as health workers raced to contain the worst COVID19 hotspot in the U.S. Now county officials say testing has nearly collapsed. More than 180 governmentsupported sites are operating at only a third of their capacity. Its shocking how quickly weve gone from moving at 100 miles an hour to about 25 said Dr. Clemens Hong who leads the countys testing operation. After a year of struggling to boost testing communities across the country are seeing plummeting demand shuttering testing sites or even trying to return supplies. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/plunging-covid19-test-demand-may-leave-us-with-supply-glut-us-ap-testing-testing-los-angeles-county-b1808458.html 27th Feb 2021

Is there a risk Covid-19 becomes a disease of the poor?

BBC News Detailed data on uptake down to a community level is not being published by the government to the frustration of many the figures for Birmingham were published by the council. But what information is available suggests the poorest and most ethnically diverse communities there is a huge overlap between the two are seeing the lowest levels of uptake. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56162075 27th Feb 2021

Vaccines coming to the rescue

Stat News The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday issued an emergency authorization for a Covid19 vaccine developed by Johnson Johnson the third vaccine to be cleared for use in the United States and the first that requires only one dose. The vaccine which has not yet been tested in children or adolescents was cleared for use in adults aged 18 and older. On Sunday the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccination policy urged the CDC to recommend use of the vaccine. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky later signed off on the recommendation paving the way for the vaccine to be deployed. https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/27/fda-authorizes-jnj-covid19-vaccine/ 27th Feb 2021

Vaccines coming to the rescue

Bloomberg Presentations show low rate of side effects rising immunity. Clearance could come soon after panels vote to recommend. Experts advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted 220 with no abstentions that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks in adults 18 and older a decision that could help bolster the vaccine supply as new variants continue to spread. The FDA usually follows the nonbinding recommendations of its advisory panels and could authorize the shot within days. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-26/j-j-s-one-shot-covid-19-vaccine-receives-fda-advisers-backing 27th Feb 2021

Vaccines coming to the rescue

Bloomberg Law Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SEs Covid19 vaccine was overwhelmingly effective against the virus in a study that followed nearly 1.2 million people in Israel results that publichealth experts said show that immunizations could end the pandemic. Two doses of the vaccine prevented 94 of Covid19 cases in 596618 people vaccinated between Dec. 20 and Feb. 1 about onequarter of whom were over the age of 60 teams from the Clalit Research Institute and Harvard University reported in a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/pfizer-biontech-shot-could-help-end-pandemic-israel-study-shows?context=search&ampindex=6 25th Feb 2021

Vaccines coming to the rescue

Al Jazeera English Canadas drug regulator on Friday approved AstraZenecas COVID19 vaccine including the version produced by the Serum Institute of India paving the way for health authorities to accelerate Canadas lagging vaccination campaign. The vaccines produced by AstraZeneca Plc and the Serum Institute were approved under Canadas interim order system which allows for accelerated approvals similar to the US Food and Drug Administrations emergency use authorisation. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/26/canada-approves-astrazenecas-covid-19-shot-in-boost-to-campaign 27th Feb 2021

Vaccines coming to the rescue

Reuters Europes medicines regulator said on Friday an antibody drug combination developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals can be used to treat COVID19 patients who do not require oxygen support and are at high risk of progressing to severe illness. The recommendation can now be used as guidance in individual European nations on the possible use of the combination of casirivimab and imdevimab before a marketing authorisation is issued the European Medicines Agency EMA said. Regenerons antibody cocktail was authorised for emergency use in the United States in November and was given to former U.S. President Donald Trump during his COVID19 infection. The treatment given via a drip is part of a class of drugs known as monoclonal antibodies which are manufactured copies of antibodies created by the human body to fight infections. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe-antibody/eu-regulator-advises-use-of-regeneron-antibody-cocktail-for-covid-19-idUSKBN2AQ1KD?il=0 26th Feb 2021

Vaccines coming to the rescue

Reuters South Korean has begun a review of Johnson Johnsons coronavirus vaccine after the U.S. pharmaceutical firm submitted an application for approval the government said on Saturday. The food and drug safety ministry said it would study the oneshot vaccine with private advisory panels before it authorises the vaccine. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-southkorea-idUKKBN2AR03Q?taid=6039cbfb7459310001cdea0e&amputm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amputm_medium=trueAnthem&amputm_source=twitter 27th Feb 2021

Scale up vaccinations as you push down positivity rates

ABC News Numbers have fallen precipitously since early January but the sevenday case average still hovers around 70000. That rivals last years summer peak and threatens to push the U.S. in the wrong direction. Certainly 70000 is not there. Not even close said Dr. Anthony Fauci the nations top infectious disease expert. Youve got to get way down in test positivity at the same time that you scale up the vaccine. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fauci-warns-progress-covid-fight-appears-stalled/story?id=76141037 26th Feb 2021

More lockdown restrictions

Reuters The Czech government announced on Friday strict new restrictions limiting peoples movement over the next three weeks and tightening shop and school closures in a bid to slow a fast spread of COVID19 infections. The country is facing a renewed surge in infections accelerated by the British variant. The number of patients in serious condition is a record. Some hospitals have been forced to transfer patients hundreds of miles away due to capacity. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-czech/czech-government-tightens-lockdown-limits-movement-to-fight-covid-surge-idUSKBN2AQ23G?il=0 27th Feb 2021

More lockdown restrictions

Reuters Greece extended lockdown restrictions on Friday to more areas of the country as the COVID19 pandemic showed no signs of waning exactly one year after its first coronavirus infection was detected health authorities said. From Saturday the islands of Lefkada Syros and Samos the towns of Arta and Amphilochia in western Greece the wider area around Corinth in the Peloponnese and Heraklion on the island of Crete will all be in lockdown. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-greece-lockdown/greece-extends-lockdown-to-more-areas-to-stem-spread-of-pandemic-idUSL1N2KW2AC 27th Feb 2021

More lockdown restrictions

Reuters The governor of Brazils capital city Brasilia decreed a 24hour lockdown for all but essential services on Friday to curb a worsening COVID19 outbreak that has filled its intensive care wards to the brim. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-lockdown-su/brazils-capital-goes-into-lockdown-to-quell-covid-19-surge-idUSKBN2AR04B 27th Feb 2021

More lockdown restrictions

MSN.com Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered New Zealands largest city back into lockdown on Saturday as Covid19 cases continued to be detected in the community. Ardern said a new coronavirus case confirmed on Saturday could not be directly connected to other positive tests over the last two weeks although a school in South Auckland was a common link. From Sunday morning the citys 1.7 million residents must stay at home except for essential shopping and work. The latest restrictions in Auckland will last at least seven days and come less than two weeks after a threeday shutdown in the city. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/new-zealands-largest-city-back-in-lockdown-as-covid-lingers/ar-BB1e4jOm 27th Feb 2021

More lockdown restrictions

FRANCE 24 English The city of Paris is considering proposing a threeweek lockdown in a bid to reopen everything in the City of Lights afterwards the deputy mayor said Thursday calling the current nighttime curfew a halfmeasure and a semiprison that never ends. In an interview with French broadcaster Franceinfo Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grgoire said that the leftwing run city hall was considering proposing an independent local lockdown for the French capital to stem the worrying rise of new coronavirus infections there with the prospect of reopening everything after including its theatres cinemas and restaurants. https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210226-paris-eyes-three-week-covid-19-lockdown-in-bid-to-then-reopen-everything 26th Feb 2021

Brazilian 'variant of concern' found in UK

BBC News The Brazil variant is something officials are worried about because it shares similar mutations to the South Africa variant of concern. Both have undergone genetic changes that could make them more contagious and perhaps less easy to stop with our current vaccines. The coronavirus jabs being given to people now were designed around earlier versions of the pandemic virus not these new variants. Scientists believe they should still protect although perhaps not quite as well. Work is already under way to redesign or tweak the vaccines to make them a better match for some of these new variants of concern. These updated vaccines could be ready within months meaning the UK would have millions of doses ready to give people a booster shot before next winter to make sure the population is protected. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56233038 28th Feb 2021

A new form of vaccine hesitancy, vaccine preference?

Al Jazeera English India is struggling to convince its healthcare and frontline workers to take a homegrown COVID19 vaccine controversially approved without latestage efficacy data government data showed on Thursday days ahead of a wider rollout. The country has the worlds secondhighest number of COVID19 infections after the United States with cases recently surging as maskwearing declines and states have eased social distancing measures. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/25/indias-health-workers-balk-at-taking-homegrown-covid-vaccine 26th Feb 2021

A new form of vaccine hesitancy, vaccine preference?

POLITICO.eu The head of STIKO Thomas Mertens conceded on BBCs Radio 4 Today program Thursday morning that in terms of slow takeup his panels assessment may be part of the problem. Even though we always stated that our assessment had nothing to do with the safety of the vaccine ... we never criticized the vaccine to be unsafe he added. Mertens noted that there are now 1.4 million doses of the vaccine in Germany while only about 240000 have been administered. We are working quite hard to try and convince people to accept the vaccine and really to build ... trust in the vaccine among the population he said. The government is also rushing to regain this trust assuring citizens that the vaccine provides reliable protection from severe and lethal cases of COVID19. The vaccine ... is safe and highly effective tweeted government spokesman Steffen Seibert on Monday. It prevents many infections and protects against serious illnesses. Vaccination can save lives. https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-coronavirus-vaccine-conundrum-oxford-astrazeneca/ 27th Feb 2021