Amazing news. Our team @JennerInstitute are so pleased to see this!

A few quick responses to some pointing out it could be even better (more/cheaper/single-dose) 1/

The Ox/AZ/SerumInst deal is incredibly radical- Ox opted out of £££ to make a brand new product available around the world not-for-profit. Please judge imperfections by comparison to Pfizer/Moderna, not vs an imaginary ideal or a company which hasn’t yet delivered any doses.
Quibble #1: ‘It needs 2 doses’. Ox/AZ haven’t done as good a PR job on this as J&J, but the vaccines are similar. Published Ox data shows substantial single dose efficacy if you read tables carefully. Further analysis will be done soon. 2/
And I think all vaccines incl J&J will need boost for optimal long-term effect. 3/
Quibble #2: ‘But Serum Inst are charging more to SA than AZ are charging others’. Firstly, the product remains cheaper, I think, than anything else in market, or many older vaccines which haven’t had the recent R&D costs. 4/
Second, Serum have done an amazing job setting up what may be the best manufacturing operation in the AZ network. Serum have invested aggressively to go really big, really fast. Their start-up costs have been substantial. Materials imported to India may cost more than in EU/US 5/
Quibble #3: ‘it’s not enough’. We know this. We knew there was going to be scarcity. We’ve worked flat out all year to make as much as poss as quick as poss. More is coming, to SA & elsewhere, as quick as humanly & technically possible. 6/
I don’t think any other vaccine development programme has strategically prioritised low/middle income supply as we have. (Yes, I know there are gaps, but it’s the best we could possibly manage) https://t.co/eKOFWiDHZ9
Can’t say how proud I am of our team @JennerInstitute without whom set up of manufacturing in India wouldn’t have happened- especially Adrian Hill, @adamjohnritchie & Carina Joe. Probably the most important thing any of us will do in our lives.

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The UN just voted to condemn Israel 9 times, and the rest of the world 0.

View the resolutions and voting results here:

The resolution titled "The occupied Syrian Golan," which condemns Israel for "repressive measures" against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights, was adopted by a vote of 151 - 2 - 14.

Israel and the U.S. voted 'No'
https://t.co/HoO7oz0dwr


The resolution titled "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people..." was adopted by a vote of 153 - 6 - 9.

Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the U.S. voted 'No' https://t.co/1Ntpi7Vqab


The resolution titled "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan" was adopted by a vote of 153 – 5 – 10.

Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the U.S. voted 'No'
https://t.co/REumYgyRuF


The resolution titled "Applicability of the Geneva Convention... to the
Occupied Palestinian Territory..." was adopted by a vote of 154 - 5 - 8.

Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the U.S. voted 'No'
https://t.co/xDAeS9K1kW
Brief thread to debunk the repeated claims we hear about transmission not happening 'within school walls', infection in school children being 'a reflection of infection from the community', and 'primary school children less likely to get infected and contribute to transmission'.

I've heard a lot of scientists claim these three - including most recently the chief advisor to the CDC, where the claim that most transmission doesn't happen within the walls of schools. There is strong evidence to rebut this claim. Let's look at


Let's look at the trends of infection in different age groups in England first- as reported by the ONS. Being a random survey of infection in the community, this doesn't suffer from the biases of symptom-based testing, particularly important in children who are often asymptomatic

A few things to note:
1. The infection rates among primary & secondary school children closely follow school openings, closures & levels of attendance. E.g. We see a dip in infections following Oct half-term, followed by a rise after school reopening.


We see steep drops in both primary & secondary school groups after end of term (18th December), but these drops plateau out in primary school children, where attendance has been >20% after re-opening in January (by contrast with 2ndary schools where this is ~5%).

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