What's all the astrozeneca hate?

[Laytwir024]

From what I've read the science shows it is just as effective as the others and no more dangerous in any way. So what is going on? Eu really having talks with Russia about sputnik? Seriously?

If this is all political then that's hideous. Or are there really issues that the UK are avoiding?

My belief is that even if there are some issues, it's still far safer than getting covid and risking long covid. I'm in my 30s and I've seen long covid in people I know.

But if I somehow had a choice, I'd actually be looking towards pfizer.

Agreed to a certain extent MrsFin but they are completely different types of blood clots so not really comparable (ditto contraceptive pill ones). I agree that the benefit outweighs the risk by miles.

@JosephineDeBeauharnais

It’s because it’s cheap. They agreed to sell it at cost until everyone who wants it has been fully vaccinated which clearly undermines the other brands’ commercial positions, chiefly Pfizer. It’s an old-fashioned price war that AZ are winning, meaning they have to be attacked on safety and efficacy. AZ haven’t helped themselves by being a bit sloppy with how they structured and reported their trials.

I absolutely concur with this, it's about money.

Interesting article in the Times last week where AZ's CEO talks about why his company which has no specialism in making vaccine decided to find one for Covid, and how the fracas surrounding the vaccine has had a detrimental effect, and the value of the company has fallen by £27 billion since a peak last summer.

It's absolutely shocking how the sole company who has done the morally right thing by producing a not for profit Covid vaccine has been treated. I'm not surprised he's wondering why he bothered tbh. And I have absolutely no doubt it's about money, and setting a precedence for a not for profit vaccine that worries the other big pharmaceutical companies.

What is the risk of developing a blood clot from taking the contraceptive pill?

Could it be this rather than AZ causing the clots?

Not the same sort of clots, as I said above.

Field of memes

The problem with that is the risk level you quoted is that risk of catching it is highly variable depending where in the country you are/ you circumstances/ how many other people get vaccinated and other measures in place
As cases rise everyone's risk will rise

When we hard an outbreak of COVID at my workplace 100% of us caught it so my odds of catching it were 100%

The odds of dying of COVID having caught it are much higher and are 1000 times higher than those of dying of the vaccine side effect even for a young in woman

See BBC article for stats CBA to post it again

The risks of dying from covid rise exponentially with age. The back of the envelope estimate that 100 young women die every month with covid is completely wrong. 99% of deaths have been in the over 50s, and men have twice the risk of women of a given age. I’ve had the AZ vaccine, but it seems there’s a strong case to pause giving it to women under 45 and give them a different vaccine.

The relevant comparison is not AZ v covid, but AZ or wait a few weeks for Moderna or J&J

Before we all get carried away with the patriotic AZ love in. They do have a history of being fined huge sums of money for hiding serious side effects they knew about.

I doubt it's the case in this case and I doubt they do much that other companies also haven't done before. But lets not try and paint them as innocent victims just because their CEO has been complaining they are being penalised for doing the right thing for once. He does have his share price to protect.

Interesting article in the Times last week where AZ's CEO talks about why his company which has no specialism in making vaccine decided to find one for Covid, and how the fracas surrounding the vaccine has had a detrimental effect, and the value of the company has fallen by £27 billion since a peak last summer.

The share price is about the same as exactly a year ago, that is before the announcement of the collaboration between Oxford and AZ. So while AZ did indeed not make a profit from their not-for-profit vaccine, they didn't lose anything either.

Covid-19: France enters third national lockdown amid ICU surge www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56622471

There are risks of pausing vaccination programmmes

@ScrollingLeaves

What is the risk of developing a blood clot from taking the contraceptive pill?

Could it be this rather than AZ causing the clots?

I think I've said it before (might have been another thread) - or DVTs caused by wfh on unsuitable chairs and not moving around enough. Somedays, without the natural office distractions, I hardly move at all.

I move around way more WFH. In the office there is nowhere to go and nothing to do. At home I can take a freak to feed the cat or pop a load of laundry on - and frequently do. I walk my kids to school now I don’t have a commute to factor in. I walk most lunchtimes as I’m in my chosen neighbourhood not a shit business park. Etc

@Eyewhisker yes.

I think a lot of incorrect information is circulating in the media.

Just to summarise

a) the clots from AZ are no ordinary clots, they are a rare form of clot in the brain accompanied with low platelets (so not your usual clot from inactivity or from a long haul flight)
b) It's not 30 cases from 18 million doses. Most of those doses were given to an older population. We need to know the number of doses given to women under 55 (who are mostly developing these clots) to determine the true (probability) risk of CVST from AZ vaccine.
c) In Europe they have confirmed that the women who did develop this rare condition - not all of them were on the contraceptive pill and so it's unlikely to be related to that.

Interesting article in the Times last week where AZ's CEO talks about why his company which has no specialism in making vaccine decided to find one for Covid, and how the fracas surrounding the vaccine has had a detrimental effect, and the value of the company has fallen by £27 billion since a peak last summer.

For a different perspective, this article (from the National Geographic) is an interesting read on international perception of AZ: www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/can-astrazeneca-dispel-doubts-about-its-shots?cmpid=int_org=ngp::int_mc=website::int_src=ngp::int_cmp=amp::int_add=amp_readtherest