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There’s much debate around the UK's recommended use of the AZ vaccine with a two-dose schedule and flexible timing of second dose. Some thoughts on the AZ recommendation (not Pfizer) based on available data with refs to some excellent threads.


UK’s MHRA and JCVI are highly-experienced in vaccine assessments and recommendations, and they've surely weighed the benefits & risks of this recommendation carefully. That said, it would be good to see all the data underpinning their recommendation.


In general, vaccines should be taken on a schedule tested in an efficacy trial. But it wasn’t possible to conduct the typical dose and schedule optimization prior to these Ph3 trials, and those trials provided valuable data to inform these recommendations. 3/

The UK recommends a two-dose schedule, with the second dose between 4-12 weeks. This *is not* a single dose schedule. Given the data provided, and in the setting of limited supply, overstretched hospitals, and emergence of a more transmissible variant, this seems justifiable. 4/

The UK has important data on the AZ Vx that wasn’t available for Pfizer & Moderna at FDA's VRBPAC, including:
* single-dose efficacy through 4+ months; and
* single-dose immunogenicity (12+ weeks).
A 2012 recording of former Belarusian KGB chief suggests President Alexander Lukashenko sanctioned assassinations of opponents abroad. Specifically mentioned is Belarus-born journalist Pavel Sheremet, who was killed by a car bomb in central Kyiv, Ukraine, in July 2016.


Tape doesn't prove Belarus killed Sheremet but adds new wrinkle to unsolved case & weight to one of 3 "tracks" of investigation: organized & carried out by Russians; ...Ukrainians; ...Belarusians. Details about how KGB wanted Sheremet killed also similar to what really happened.


Ukraine arrested and is currently trying 3 suspects in Kyiv for Sheremet's murder. All have denied involvement and much of Ukrainian civil society has sided with them. Legal experts also say authorities' case is built upon weak evidence. I wrote about it:

I've covered the Sheremet murder from day one. I wrote a lengthy investigation about it for @pressfreedom in 2016-17: https://t.co/fFr4bAJdEy I found many failings on the part of Ukrainian authorities, who made their preference clear from the beginning: that Russia was behind it.

Another investigation into Sheremet's murder by @OCCRP and @Slidstvo_info also found failings in the official investigation as well as possible links to Ukrainian security service involvement.
Here's a thread of all of @LLinWood's recent 🔥 tweets for your safe keeping.
(1) Here are the amendments to the All Tiers Regs to implement Lockdown 3

(2) Made at 4.30 pm today, laid before Parliament at 5.30 pm, published on
https://t.co/ZtYk9EHWsF at 5.44 pm, come into force at 00.01 tomorrow, 6 Jan.


(3) As predicted they tweak the rules for Tier 4 and put the whole country into it - so just a mere 5 pages to do this

(4) So, some specific changes - on the restriction of movement, which prohibits leaving / being away from home without a reasonable excuse, the following circumstances which are deemed to be a reasonable excuse are deleted...

(5) recreation, visting a zoo etc is out
July 2009.
Government virus expert paid £116k by swine flu vaccine manufacturers.

"The 'false' pandemic: Drug firms cashed in on scare over swine flu, claims Euro health chief."

January 2010.

https://t.co/nDs2ifa6jk


The 2016 simulation of a pandemic found holes in the UK’s readiness for such a

November 2018
"Ineffective flu vaccine added to 50,000 extra deaths last winter. Office National Statistics."

"Human suffering and lost lives over winter 'predictable, preventable and
I want to call out this particular point in my larger tweetstorm, because it sorta maps onto a dumb talking point from the left: "The government can borrow and spend any amount we want. American *can't* have a Greek-style debt crisis, because we borrow in our own currency!"


My right-wing followers, of course, understand why this won't fly: America borrowing in dollars, and under US law rather than some neutral third country, is not a law of nature. People with money could easily decide it was too risky to make us dollar-denominated loans.

(Or at least, at any price we'd want to pay.)

What would make them decide this? The fastest way would be for America to borrow a metric crap ton of money, and then default or let inflation eat away the value of our loans so we're repaying pennies on the dollar in real terms.

And since the "America can't have Greek-style debt crisis" talking point is genreallly only uttered by people who are urgin gus to do exactly the sort of thing that make it more likely we'll have trouble borrowing money in dollars, this is just deeply, deeply silly.

I mean it would probably work for a while--as Adam Smith said, "There's a lot of ruin in a nation". I am prepared to concede that the natural stopping point of this binge might be quite a few years away. I only say there is some stopping point.