Date: 21-Apr-2021

AstraZeneca To Modify Vaccine For South African Variant

Pharma major AstraZeneca and University of Oxford are working on modifying their existing Covid-19 vaccine — called Covishield in India — to become effective against the South African coronavirus variant.

Says who?

  • AstraZeneca’s Austria country manager Sarah Walters said in an interview to Kurier newspaper published on Sunday that the company “and Oxford University have started on modifications to the vaccine for the South African variant and we expect it will be ready by the end of the year”.

 

  • While Walters spoke about the delays in shipment of the vaccine, which she blamed on the “complex process” of producing a vaccine, she did not address issues related to safety concerns over the vaccine, which has been banned by Denmark and by Britain — for people under 30 — while also being flagged by the EU for a possible linkage to blood clots.

 

  • Canada too reported a second case of rare blood clots in a week, on Saturday, with low platelets following immunisation, with the country’s health authorities saying they “will continue to monitor the use of all Covid-19 vaccines closely and examine and assess any new safety concerns”.

 

  • Australia had last week reported its first death due to blood clots linked to the administration of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, with the country’s Vaccine Safety Investigation Group saying it “believed that a causative link to vaccination should be assumed”.

What about India?

  • Even though there have been no reports of any blood clots here, the National Committee for Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) is reviewing any post-vaccination side-effects of Covishield.

Date: 22-Apr-2021

AstraZeneca To Modify Vaccine For South African Variant

Pharma major AstraZeneca and University of Oxford are working on modifying their existing Covid-19 vaccine — called Covishield in India — to become effective against the South African coronavirus variant.

Says who?

  • AstraZeneca’s Austria country manager Sarah Walters said in an interview to Kurier newspaper published on Sunday that the company “and Oxford University have started on modifications to the vaccine for the South African variant and we expect it will be ready by the end of the year”.

 

  • While Walters spoke about the delays in shipment of the vaccine, which she blamed on the “complex process” of producing a vaccine, she did not address issues related to safety concerns over the vaccine, which has been banned by Denmark and by Britain — for people under 30 — while also being flagged by the EU for a possible linkage to blood clots.

 

  • Canada too reported a second case of rare blood clots in a week, on Saturday, with low platelets following immunisation, with the country’s health authorities saying they “will continue to monitor the use of all Covid-19 vaccines closely and examine and assess any new safety concerns”.

 

  • Australia had last week reported its first death due to blood clots linked to the administration of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, with the country’s Vaccine Safety Investigation Group saying it “believed that a causative link to vaccination should be assumed”.

What about India?

  • Even though there have been no reports of any blood clots here, the National Committee for Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) is reviewing any post-vaccination side-effects of Covishield.
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