VAXTASTIC DECEMBER!
December 2020…the first successful vaccines are announced!
DECEMBER 2020 - IT’S VACCINE TIME!
Who would have thought that 11 months after the announcement of the Covid-19 virus, there would be, like buses, three coming along at once with successful results in effectiveness (efficacy) and as of yesterday 2nd December 2020, the UK Regulators have signed off on the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has been manufactured in Belgium for the last three months.
On these very Blog Pages, we predicted that that very vaccine, along with the UK’s AstraZeneca /Oxford University/Jenner vaccine, and the US Moderna vaccine (all of which entered Phase Three trials first) would be the first three to announce results, and all have a 60% plus success rate, with the Oxford vaccine more successful amongst younger groups (90% plus) and Pfizer having a good efficacy with the over 65s. There are thousands of pages of data to sort through however, and the EU and USA FDA are taking their time analysing it, whereas the UK regulators say that they have been analysing as they went along, since July this year.
Here’s a table of Vaccine Info:
NB The Russian Sputnik vaccine is being rolled out right across Russia without full Phase 3 testing
There’s all manner of arguments now as to whether the vaccine SHOULD have been approved so quickly by the UK, as to whether the EU Emergency protocols were more responsible than Brexit for authorising and approving the first vaccine (they were of course), but the truth of the issue is that vaccines are here, and they’re soon to be all over the place depending on which countries have bought what.
The UK’s rollout of Pfizer/BioNTech will be a good testing ground for infrastructure and logistics in getting it to Care Homes and NHS staff first, as the containers have 975 racks of vaccine which has to be kept at -70 degrees Celsius, then can stay in a fridge for five days maximum while administering it, so let’s see how we do!
In other countries, Poland, Austria and Morocco look to be rolling out vaccines in Jan/Feb 2021, USA should get approval by the middle of December 2020, China (where life has pretty much returned to normal) is already distributing two of its major Pharma’s vaccines to military and frontline workers and has been for two months (see chart below), and more vaccine announcements are being made daily as purchase deals are completed. Here’s the latest December 2020 list of Phase Three Trials Completed vaccines:
N.B. Sinopharm (China) have been selling its two vaccines around the world, including South America and Morocco. But it seems that the UK, EU and USA will be the first countries serving the populations with a number of vaccines; watch this space to see how effective these are, and news on results and reports from these places concerned….
MEANWHILE
The Second (and third, according to Sweden!) Waves of infections and deaths have been indeed soaring around the world…the World Daqta is at the end of this blog report as usual. But deaths at up to 2500/day in the US , 600/700 in France, UK, Russia and still increasing in South America (with over 200,000 new infections in the USA daily, 33,000 India and 48,000 Brazil), it doesn’t seem like many governments have got the right answer for Covid Control anywhere, with exceptions in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand of course. Lockdowns, three tier systems, local or national restrictions, in many places, the incidence is still rising. The vaccines couldn’t come a minute too soon.
I reckon an awful lot of people (including me) are feeling rather fed up with this year, so rather than go on about the even worse cases of croneyism I’ve discovered emanating from the UK’s Conservative Government, or my joy at the eventual (when he grows up) Trump replacement as President of the USA, it’s probably best to let everyone have as best an end-of-year as possible, celebrating Christmas if you do that kind of thing, with whoever you’re allowed to, and to finally see what the New Year 2021 brings in terms of joy, good health, and some happiness, not to mention Back To Work and back To The Pub as soon as possible….
So finally, various folks have said that there are all manner of ways to get tested since a few blogs ago, particularly here in the UK. Could I write something about them?
So here goes: TESTING in the UK December 2020
A) ANTIBODY TESTS:
Antibody (60 mins/lab by post up to 48 hrs)…ABBOTT vein or finger prick (£50-£100) Private appt OR Home Test Kit…..”Rapid Antibody”. 95% up accuracy (IgG/IgM) Postal test available most cheaply from MedExpress.co.uk (£50).
There is a rapid antibody test available privately in the UK too, but its accuracy is not sufficiently high for national rollout…it’s been mentioned in this blog before and it’s called the AbC-19 Rapid Test. There’s also in use in the US the “Assure” Antibody Rapid Test, the Biohit rapid test, and the Omnipath Elisa test kits available from Thermo Fisher.
FYI Labs now can use these automated machines to analyse blood for super accurate antibody testing (Anti-SARS-CoV-2) : Roche (Switz./Elecsys modular analyser)…100% effective after Day 14 infection/ Abbott (USA/Architect detects leg antibodies only) also 100% after Day 14/ Liaison Test (DiaSorin, Italy) 97.4% after 15 days.
LATEST ANTIBODY TEST NEWS IS that as of November 20, there’s now the VirTus (IgM/IgG) finger prick antibody test which may even detect repetitive infections by Covid! It’s the most sensitive antibody test about… gets IgG and IgM results independently…it’s 20% more accurate than Abbott and Roche, developed by Imperial College London, and distributed worldwide. 4 days after test..get your results. In London, the Mayfield Clinic has it: £130 fingerprick home kit, £230-£300 in clinic/vein.
B) ANTIGEN/RT-PCR TESTS (Swab etc):
To recap, these standard Covid-19 tests are the ones where if you’ve got symptoms, you book the test online via the NHS website and usually do a drive-in, and get the results back in 36-48 hrs, for free, after having a swab go all around your mouth and throat. Active virus will be picked up and detected in a complicated but accurate lab procedure. However, there are now paid for swab kits which you can get delivered for £ 125 - £150 and 3 days later get the result.
(https://www.privatecoronavirustests.com/product/coronavirus-testing-kit) Having someone do it for you in clinic costs £150 - £275 in the UK. There are lots of private places where you can get these, especially useful for asymptomatic folks who may need a Certificate to Fly !
Then there’s the RAPID Antigen Lateral Flow Test.
In Liverpool, thousands and thousands of people were tested rapidly in a 20 day period using them….this is claimed to be a 10 - 20 minute results test, used by more and more people worldwide, with a 90 - 97 % accuracy apparently. Th UK government has bought millions of these tests and more and more local councils are being supplied with them for tests for people with or without symptoms, for free. This nose/throat swab test is made by Innova who claim accuracy of 88% - 99%.
Other lateral flow tests can also be paid for at £99 with a visit to a private lab (such as the London Medical labs). The Panbio test is a simple nose swab test, and is a version of the SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test made by Roche and also distributed worldwide (see pix above).
FINALLY It seems that some of the quicker tests are now getting better results than was originally thought, but results are still varying around the world and need huge amounts of data to give definitive thoughts on what tests are best.
Testing, Test-Trace-Isolate, Safe-Distancing, Wash your hands, WEAR A MASK…… these are THE phrases of 2020 whether we liked it or not. They’ll continue to be until the middle of 2021 MINIMUM I’d say.
Happy New Year all and COMMENTS WELCOME!
GO AWAY COVID!
WORLD DATA DECEMBER 2nd 2020
Data December 2nd 2020