Does the Astra Zeneca vaccine work?

Caarolpaint - yes you are spot on - I came across numerous references to the statement made by Macron prior to the EMA approving the vaccine for adult use.

And as you rightly say he was condemned by other European leaders, which added to the reluctance to vaccination.

Later - on February 25th - he was reported by Reuters as saying: "Macron says he would take AstraZeneca vaccine if it was offered".
Link: news.yahoo.com/macron-says-astrazeneca-vaccine-offered-205132068.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC0IOSTLMdZ6zso1GsJA3zhR02ThHiXk67w46WjMcbz1GWBb6fX-cR-8zJkL0lucj2dDpGRb7Dymk7wXCG5CBkrT7ohk45Ngo4Ca1qQtkVkl48bT4eG0I47D15OA1GVhoY4ahKjbIojpeFot7PbpFtFBaw6_kbMBWgEYmmunFjLe

It was clearly a stupid remark/comment, and did nobody any good. The tone of the English press - well the Mail, Express, Telegraph, Sun and MSN were of course displaying their usual WW2 sabre rattling.

Which also helps nobody - this was the Express headline on 22nd February: 'Data that shames Macron!' French 'smear campaign' exposed – Oxford jab nails huge victory.
Link: www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1401057/Emmanuel-macron-AstraZeneca-coronavirus-vaccine-Scotland-research-latest-data

Jingoism on either side clearly still a vote winner I guess.

Both Macron and the Express were equally stupid - and both making comments without accurate data.

Much like me perhaps.

Since we currently are on something of an EU blaming tack, and wow look at the benefits of Brexit, etc., etc. This makes an interesting read:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/04/the-guardian-view-on-rebalancing-the-economy-brexit-wont-do-it

Macron called it quasi ineffective, how damning was that, google it yourself, it comes up very clearly, other countries called him reckless but the harm had already been done. If you google Merkel’s hesitancy that will probably come up easily and clearly. It is about harm done. It is about attitude, disdain is France’s attitude.

Carolpaint - I meant to ask, how many doses have been produced in the UK that have been sent to "Covax" to - as you put it SAVE THE WORLD. ??

Carolpaint - I agree with you about the AZ vaccine.

But I've not seen any evidence of the comments, or "huffing and puffing" you refer to - have you a link please?

This let's blame the EU thing needs to stop - I accept that the vote was to leave, and leave we have, so what we have done this year - be it a success or a failure is the UK's own making. Primarily the electorate in England that is - since other countries in this union voted to remain in the EU.

Good grief.

Railman what did President Macron say? Eventually Angela Merkell had it, but after a great deal of huffing and puffing. These comments and procrastinations were broadcast to the world. Yes I agree that our culture is in jeopardy with the what seems so much American television we buy and broadcast. Let us all be realistic the AZ vaccine can be given even in the smallest clinic in quite remote locations, it is the jab to save the world. TO SAVE THE WORLD!

I live in Belgium and had the AZ jabs. My husband had Pfizer. No one here talks about Brexit anymore. Long in the past. There is no more jealousy of Britain.
We are just sad that in this day and age where we need to be united to face the challenges of this century, that the UK bailed out. The empire is long gone and the world has changed.

Yes, an astounding difference, isn’t it, Alegrias?

The difference between now and pre-vaccine is that they currently have eighteen Covid patients in her hospital, whereas in Jan/Feb they had eight hundred Covid patients.

That's amazing news SueDonim

But surely ease of use is as important as being a ground breaking vaccine. If you can’t easily get it to a small village in Africa it isn’t much good in a world wide pandemic. That plus allowing countries to make their own vaccine. Or not making a profit.

Good though the AZ vaccine is, I'd say its the mRNA ones that are the envy of the world. Or at least of anybody who knows how they work.

god forbid that we win the football.

Well we've already lost at the football, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're still mixing up the UK and England. Par for the course.

Carolpaint

As far as I can perceive the EU considers the UK as the divorced wife who can starve in the gutter along with her brats. Each thing we achieve is treated with disdain, hence the rubbishing of the Oxford Vaccine (by the way the Pfizer one gave me awful muscle aches and a stomach disorder), the new move by EU is not to allow our television programmes to be bought by the EU, good forbid that we win the football.

Can you direct me to the evidence showing that the EU were "rubbishing the AZ vaccine"??

Or is it just the done thing to blame the EU for anything annoying.

I believe restricting British TV output is under consideration as it provides a "risk to the EU's cultural diversity":

According to an EU document tabled with diplomats on 8 June, in the “aftermath of Brexit” it is believed the inclusion of UK content in such quotas has led to what has been described as a “disproportionate” amount of British programming on European television.

I would suggest we limit the amount of programming produced in the USA shown on British TV, since it presents a risk to the UK's cultural diversity, wouldn't you?

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/21/eu-prepares-cut-amount-british-tv-film-shown-brexit

Gabrielle56

You're dead right! EU are jealous as hell of us , always have been! They hamstrung us while we were in the rotten market and now they've no control? Well! It's driving them nuts (tee hee , good) were exceptionally good at, well anything we turn our hands to, we beat all comers and even at their own game (British sparkling wine doesn't need to hide behind a grotty overrated has been monicker) it's a pity successive govs. Have viewed our assets as family silver to be flogged off to finance HS2/grants to the ballet/tax breaks for the poor rich/any useless expensive scheme going.(but nothing to actually help folks improve their lives) our AZ vaccine success is the envy of the world and dont it just 'needle' them!!?

Oh for goodness sake - I take it your comment was meant to be taken as sarcasm/irony.

The successive governments that flogged UK assets off started with that Thatcher woman, selling off school playing fields, MOD property, any asset that wasn't tied down, and entirely destroyed UK rail manufacturing. Single handedly surely her finest achievement - oddly she did not seek to privatise the NHS or indeed the railways and Royal Mail - John Major achieved those fantastic results.

Today, I think we would struggle to find something the UK is likely to beat all comers at - unless its financial chicanery in the City of London.

I believe the USA doesn’t recognise the AZ vaccine as it hasn’t been licensed there but that is not to say it doesn’t work as it obviously does as data in the U.K. and other countries have proved its effectiveness.

CafeauLait you are very lucky in being able to choose your vaccine. I wish I could, but this is not allowed in UK. It's either have AZ (if that's the one on offer when you turn up, which it invariably is) or nothing at all. Checking the Gov weekly yellow card reporting, the number of blood clot cases and fatalities continues to rise. It's no good saying the risk is tiny; that's not good enough. Seems it's perfectly acceptable to allow people to be seriously affected or even die. If that doesn't affect you or your family, then most people aren't that bothered or sympathetic. People who have a preference after weighing all the risks, should be allowed to choose. I imagine many in the UK would not choose AZ if they could, but this is not allowed because it is a British vaccine. It wouldn't look good if we rejected our own vaccine I guess. But at such cost. Propaganda is working a treat, just as planned.

God forbid

As far as I can perceive the EU considers the UK as the divorced wife who can starve in the gutter along with her brats. Each thing we achieve is treated with disdain, hence the rubbishing of the Oxford Vaccine (by the way the Pfizer one gave me awful muscle aches and a stomach disorder), the new move by EU is not to allow our television programmes to be bought by the EU, good forbid that we win the football.

Alegrias1

The last time we had 27,000 cases a day on a rising curve was in December. On that day we had 1,917 people admitted to hospital and 1,400 on ventilation.

My dd is working as a doctor in W Yorkshire. She says Covid is rampant but it’s in young people, often as yet unvaccinated or between doses. The difference between now and pre-vaccine is that they currently have eighteen Covid patients in her hospital, whereas in Jan/Feb they had eight hundred Covid patients.

Yes it works there is plenty of evidence to show this

I've had both AZ vaccinations. I have been on steroids for last 11 months which means that I have lowered immune system. I am on the ONS survey which tests using swabs and blood tests. I am continuing to do this for another 12 months. I haven't had Covid, but since having my 2AZ vaccinations I now have antibodies against Covid. I'm delighted with this result as it makes me much more confident about going out and about!

Don’t know where ‘here’ is Nanna8 but do people really think the UK has bust a gut, researchers, health professionals, volunteers and the people themselves coming forward for an in-effectual vaccine of ‘water’ —- words fail me

varian

I hope that the ongoing analysis will demonstrate that the advantages of vaccinating secondary school children outweigh any minimal risks.

Two of my teenage grandchildren are fortunate enough to live in an EU country and they have been jabbed.

My grandchildren living in the UK have lost many days of schooling and are still at risk of getting covid, and possibly long covid which can be quite a serious longterm condition.

varian Data does show that advantages outweigh risks for schoolchildren.

There's a lot of smoke and mirrors going on here.

The issues are:

whether vaccinating schoolchildren is cost-effective, given that most young people don't suffer serious illness;

supply issues with mRNA vaccines - the UK just doesn't have enough

whether it's better to allow scarce vaccines to be used in developing countries rather than UK schoolchildren - this is a bit of a silly argument because many developing countries don't have the storage capacity for mRNA vaccines.

In other words, if a decision is taken not to vaccinate schoolchildren, it will be political rather than scientific.

I agree with you Alegrias. I had the AZ vaccine, even though I have a low platelet count. If the data which are available now had been available when I was vaccinated, I would probably have been given the Pfizer one. However, I haven't suffered any side effects, so I'm happy.

The data on blood clots and effectiveness are still being analysed and it will be months, if not years before there's anything conclusive.

What we do know is that all the vaccines "work". Some of them might be more effective than others and some of them might have side effects for a very small number of people, but the differences aren't that great. In practice, they're insignificant. The important factor is the level of community transmission. If hardly anybody is infected, there's nobody to catch Covid from, so differences in effectiveness become irrelevant. Incidentally, low transmission rates mean that it's difficult to obtain objective data.

The data aren't complete, but it would have been downright silly to have waited for a fuller picture. We know that vaccines are safe for the vast majority of people and that's what is important. They'll probably need tweaking and vaccinating the whole world is going to be a challenge. Ultimately, the success of vaccines will be down to much more than individuals.