Tag: Oxford-AstraZeneca

India is betting on glitchy software to inoculate 300 million people by August

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/02/10/1017860/india-covid-vaccine-cowin-software/

Excerpt:

India, which has had the second-highest number of covid-19 cases in the world, has launched one of Asia’s most ambitious vaccination drives, aiming to inoculate 300 million people by August. To make it happen, the government is using a vaccine management system called Co-WIN. For now, the focus is on getting 30 million health-care and frontline workers vaccinated. 

These workers will receive one of two vaccines approved for emergency use: the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine—known locally as Covishield and being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India—and Bharat Biotech’s indigenous vaccine, called Covaxin. 

Co-WIN is the backbone of the vaccination drive, so to speak. It handles registrations, creates vaccination schedules, informs the recipients through text messages, sends people to the right vaccination center, and also creates a vaccination certificate after they’ve received two doses. Although it’s starting with health-care workers, it’s expected to be used for the general public, too, and people will be asked to self-register through the app. 

Author(s): Varsha Bansal

Publication Date: 10 February 2021

Publication Site: MIT Technology Review

UK finds vaccines 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations in over-80s

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-vaccines/uk-finds-vaccines-80-effective-at-preventing-hospitalisations-in-over-80s-idUSKCN2AT38I

Excerpt:

The Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are more than 80% effective at preventing hospitalisations from COVID-19 in those over 80 after one dose of either shot, Public Health England (PHE) said on Monday, citing a pre-print study.

Author(s): Alistair Smout

Publication Date: 2 March 2021

Publication Site: Reuters

Oxford University starts COVID-19 vaccine trial in children ages 6 to 17

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-oxford-trial-children/

Excerpt:

In a key step toward ending the coronavirus pandemic, kids as young as 6 years old will be included in the clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine. The University of Oxford has launched a new study to assess the safety and effectiveness of its vaccine with AstraZeneca in children for the first time. 

In a new statement, the university says the trial will assess immune response in kids ages 6 to 17, an age group hit hard by school closures due to the pandemic. Around 300 volunteers are enrolled, expected to get their first inoculations this month. 

In the single-blind, randomized study, up to 240 participants will receive the COVID vaccine, while the control group will receive a meningitis vaccine, which is safe for children and produces a similar reaction. 

Author(s): Sophie Lewis

Publication Date: 14 February 2021

Publication Site: CBS News

Why aren’t kids getting vaccinated?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/02/08/1017621/why-arent-kids-getting-vaccinated/

Excerpt:

While much of the world is engaged in a frantic scramble to get vaccinated against covid-19, there’s one group noticeably absent from the queues of people at vaccine clinics: children.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is still approved for use only in those aged 16 years or older, and the Moderna vaccine is only for adults. Both are now in trials for younger age groups, and results are expected by the summer. The Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are also due to start trials in children soon. But in a world where most vaccines are given to children under two, why is it that during a global pandemic, children are being left behind? And what does it mean for how the pandemic will unfold in adults? 

One reason children are not yet priorities for vaccination is that they are much less affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection than adults. Children make up nearly 13% of all cases reported in the United States so far, but less than 3% of all reported hospitalizations and less than 0.21% of all covid-19 deaths. When they have symptoms, they are similar to adults’—cough, fever, sore throat, and runny nose—but less severe.

Author(s): Bianca Nogrady

Publication Date: 8 February 2021

Publication Site: MIT Tech Review