Astrazeneca vaccine suspended..... Not proven to be linked to the jab yet, but investigations are ongoing *title edited by GNHQ*

The EU have told its members states to keep using the Oxford vaccine, always has. Alison Pearson is either wilfully misrepresenting that or she doesn't really understand what's going on.

From The Telegraph today Allison Pearson

In general, our group felt lucky to have got the AstraZeneca. I was about to say I was surprised that so many European countries have suspended the Oxford vaccine rollout amid safety fears. But that wouldn’t strictly be true. I mean, how many people could have predicted that the arrogant, unaccountable, fabulously incompetent EU would rather act spitefully and punish British success by cutting off its nose to spite its face than protect its citizens from severe illness and death?

Apart from the 17,410,742 prophetic geniuses who voted for Brexit, that is.

maddyone

The worrying thing to me is that until we’re all vaccinated we all remain at risk. As the virus circulates it mutates, and it’s possible a very deadly mutation might develop, which is resistant to current vaccines. Therefore I’m quite anxious that everyone wherever they live, gets a vaccination.

Yes this maddyone. I do understand countries exercising caution when a possible adverse side effect emerges, but at the same time I wonder if those already vaccine hesitant won't believe it's OK when the resumption starts. Fear feeds fear, and we really need as many people as possible vaccinated as quickly as possible. There needs to be a very clear explanation if the vaccine was responsible for any of the blood clots, and emphasis on the rarity of this complication.

The worrying thing to me is that until we’re all vaccinated we all remain at risk. As the virus circulates it mutates, and it’s possible a very deadly mutation might develop, which is resistant to current vaccines. Therefore I’m quite anxious that everyone wherever they live, gets a vaccination.

The EU seem to be Jabbing each other in the Back.
?

Oh well, it looks like Macron has caved in now over the vaccine.

Urmstongran

Now this is strange sw as this ...

“In 1991, there was a medical scandal not linked to vaccines specifically when it was discovered that health authorities had knowingly distributed blood products contaminated with HIV to haemophiliacs in the 1980s. Several ministers were later charged with manslaughter.”

... was in the article supplied there by Jaxjacky in the Guardian article?

I’m confused - what is strange. Maybe I’m just tired and missing the point. Help

Actually I wasn’t being critical at all. I have no skin in the game. The French either vaccinate or not. It’s their decision. I was just curious as to where the overall reticence came from.

When I was studying European Healthcare systems, it was fascinating to learn about the different models of not just the actual structures but the cultural differences. At that time, French people were prescribed far more medication than any other European country. I also remember a sentence in a book about the German system which still makes me smile “Healthy is the German who has not been tested enough”

Now this is strange sw as this ...

“In 1991, there was a medical scandal not linked to vaccines specifically when it was discovered that health authorities had knowingly distributed blood products contaminated with HIV to haemophiliacs in the 1980s. Several ministers were later charged with manslaughter.”

... was in the article supplied there by Jaxjacky in the Guardian article?

Thanks for article.

I believe France actually invented several vaccines, including the TB vaccine.
Yes, Jaxjacky blood tests for everything! I think French doctors tend to think about the whole person by looking for every possible cause.

Ellianne and a blood test in France for everything! To go back, I know of at least three expats who have returned to the UK for their vaccinations, wrong on many levels.
This explains some of the French hesitency:

www.theguardian.com/global/2021/jan/11/vaccine-scepticism-in-france-reflects-dissatisfaction-with-political-class

I will read that link in a bit sw I’m trying to multi-task at present!

Ellianne I dare say the set of vaccinations necessary to begin school are not ‘new ones’. (like covid jab) Kind of proves my point?

Urmstongran

French people are wary of specific vaccines. They do not trust their government about new ones.

In 1991, in France’s biggest public health scandal, the government was found to have knowingly administered transfusions with contaminated blood from people who were HIV positive to at least 1,200 haemophiliacs, which led to hundreds of deaths.

French government officials had initially said they were not aware the blood was contaminated. Three ministers, including former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, were charged with manslaughter. Only one was found guilty and received no sentence.

But to this day the scandal has left public confidence in the government shaky at best.

Oh dear - perhaps you better read this before getting too critical of the French. I remember it well . But I don’t think anyone was charged here

haemophilia.org.uk/background/

Interesting Urmstongran, and yet French children are not allowed to start school unless they have had all the necessary vaccinations!

French people are wary of specific vaccines. They do not trust their government about new ones.

In 1991, in France’s biggest public health scandal, the government was found to have knowingly administered transfusions with contaminated blood from people who were HIV positive to at least 1,200 haemophiliacs, which led to hundreds of deaths.

French government officials had initially said they were not aware the blood was contaminated. Three ministers, including former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, were charged with manslaughter. Only one was found guilty and received no sentence.

But to this day the scandal has left public confidence in the government shaky at best.

I can't understand why France, the home of Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie etc is so much more reticent about vaccines.
I lived in France for many years, the healthcare is exceptional. You can't visit the doctor without leaving with a big bag full of pills and potions! In addition, a French friend who had Hodgkins had very aggressive intravenous drug treatment. Another had innovative spinal surgery. I certainly wouldn't say they shy away from medical intervention. It all seems strange.

I can't speak for Germany but I have lived in France and there is a different attitude to healthcare issues there. I wouldn't be surprised if they are inherently more reticent about all vaccines than we are; that's not a criticism, just an observation.

Maybe someone who has lived in France, or is French, would be able to say if I'm right.

They decided to pause because they are so worried about their populations being vaccine hesitant and they want to show they are being as careful as possible.
I'm not in France or Germany so can't compare but instead of trying to show how cautious they are, why didn't they go all out at the start to convince their populations that the vaccines are the only way out of this mess? To be fair, the UK government has worked its socks off to get the message across that the more people in the country are vaccinated the more chance we have of getting on top of the virus, of rebooting the economy and of getting life back to normal.

Might the precautionary principle in the EU be the reason why not a single one of the world’s 20 most valuable tech companies is European, and why the region lags again in artificial intelligence?

It is true that BioNTech’s ground-breaking mRNA vaccine was made in Germany, but its founders are Turkish immigrants and most of the clinical trials took place in the US, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa. It is famously difficult to conduct clinical trials in the EU.

Just been on the news that France decided to go because Germany had gone. They decided to pause because they are so worried about their populations being vaccine hesitant and they want to show they are being as careful as possible. I think they've got this very wrong.

But really, not everything is about us.....we really aren't that important, surprising though it is for people.

Add that to the shortage of suitable syringes throughout Europe.

I think this is just yah boo sucks behaviour by countries that were not as well organised as us in rolling out the vaccine. It gives them an excuse for their tardiness and a stick to beat perfidious Albion with for leavimg the EU.

These cases were known about and discussed back in January. So why everyone is reacting now months after the event I do not know.

Obviously a little cluster, of what I understand to be quite a rare type of blood clot, must be a cause for concern, but over 70 million AZ vaccines have been administered and, as I understand, a cluster like this has not occurred anywhere else.