Babak Belurs

Kamis, 04 Februari 2021

Covid trial in UK examines mixing different vaccines - BBC News

A UK trial has been launched to see if giving people different Covid vaccines for their first and second doses works as well as the current approach of using the same type of vaccine twice.

The idea is to provide more flexibility with vaccine rollout and help deal with any potential disruption to supplies.

And scientists say it is possible the new approach could even provide better protection than giving the same jabs.

For those not taking part in the trial, the regimen remains unchanged.

Currently, official guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) says anyone already given the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca jab as part of the UK's approved immunisation programme should get the same vaccine for both doses.

In very rare circumstances a different vaccine can be used - if only one vaccine is available, or it's not known which was given for the first dose.

Scientists have good reason to believe the new mixing approach being trialled may prove beneficial - some Ebola immunisation programmes involve mixing different jabs to improve protection, for example.

The Com-Cov study, run by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium, will involve more than 800 volunteers over the age of 50 in England.

Some will receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab followed by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or vice versa - four or 12 weeks apart.

Other vaccines may be added as they are approved by regulators.

The chief investigator, Prof Matthew Snape from the University of Oxford, said the "tremendously exciting study" would provide information vital to the rollout of vaccines in the UK and globally.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that animal studies have shown "a better antibody response with a mixed schedule rather than the straight schedule" of vaccine doses.

"It will be really interesting to see if the different delivery methods actually could lead to an enhanced immune response [in humans], or at least a response that's as good as giving the straight schedule of the same doses," he said.

Scientists will monitor volunteers for side-effects and keep a close eye on blood tests to see how well their immune systems respond.

And although the full study will continue for 13 months, the scientists are hopeful of being able to announce some initial findings by this June.

The study will also provide data on:

the impact of the vaccines on new variants
the effects of second doses at four and 12 weeks

And scientists say these could inform the type of vaccines some younger adults are offered as their second doses - as the vaccination rolls out to these age groups later in the year.

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Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, said: "Given the inevitable challenges of immunising large numbers of the population against Covid-19 and potential global supply constraints, there are definite advantages to having data that could support a more flexible immunisation programme, if needed and if approved by the medicines regulator.

"It is also even possible that by combining vaccines, the immune response could be enhanced giving even higher antibody levels that last longer. Unless this is evaluated in a clinical trial, we just won't know."

Any changes to the UK's current strategy would need approval from the JCVI.

The study will be recruiting people aged 50 or older, who have not yet received a Covid vaccine, in these areas:

London
Birmingham
Liverpool
Nottingham
Bristol
Oxford
Southampton

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Rabu, 03 Februari 2021

Cergyman says praise for Capt Sir Tom Moore was 'cult of white British nationalism' - Daily Mail

Church of England clergyman apologises after saying clapping for Capt Sir Tom Moore was 'cult of white British nationalism'

Clergyman has condemned the commemoration of Captain Sir Tom Moore
Reverend Robinson-Brown referred to a 'cult of white British nationalism'
Mr Robinson-Brown deleted the tweet after a backlash and posted an apology

By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 22:52 GMT, 3 February 2021 | Updated: 23:08 GMT, 3 February 2021

A clergyman from a prominent Church of England parish yesterday condemned the commemoration of Captain Sir Tom Moore as a ‘cult of white British nationalism’.

The Reverend Jarel Robinson-Brown appeared to dismiss the work of the Covid fund-raiser, whose efforts were praised by all political leaders and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The cleric, newly appointed to a prestigious post by the Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Sarah Mullally, added that he would not join tonight's national clap to mark the passing of Captain Tom.

Apology: Jarel Robinson-Brown

He responded to the veteran’s death by tweeting: ‘The cult of Captain Tom is a cult of White British Nationalism. I will offer prayers for the repose of his kind and generous soul, but I will not be joining the “National Clap”.’

The intervention by the 29-year-old black and gay activist appeared to undermine the Church of England and its handling of the Covid crisis at a time when its leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby (pictured), have been facing criticism for their willingness to close churches

The intervention by the 29-year-old black and gay activist appeared to undermine the Church of England and its handling of the Covid crisis at a time when its leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, have been facing criticism for their willingness to close churches.

The Archbishop marked Captain Tom’s death by saying he was ‘an inspiration to millions’.

Mr Robinson-Brown deleted the tweet after a fierce backlash and posted an apology, saying: ‘I offer an unreserved apology for the insensitive timing and content of my tweet regarding the clap for Captain Tom.’

He said he had since read and will sign the church’s digital charter, which is designed to ‘help make social media and the web more widely positive places’.

Former Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman described it as an ‘appalling comment’, and Bishop Mullally’s diocese was understood to be preparing an apology last night.

Mr Robinson-Brown, a former Methodist minister and chaplain at King’s College London, converted to Anglicanism and is training to become a priest in the Church of England. Last month he was appointed as a curate at the oldest church in the City of London, All Hallows By the Tower.

Mr Robinson-Brown is set to begin work shortly at the ‘inclusive church’, CofE jargon for a radical parish that supports gay rights. His new vicar, the Reverend Katherine Hedderly, greeted his appointment as a curate last weekend by saying her congregation were ‘delighted’.

He has said he is ‘passionate about issues of justice, particularly in the areas of race and sexuality’ and has ‘an interest in gender, desire and ethnicity in Late Antique Egypt’, alongside ‘liberation theology’ and ‘queer theology’.

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2021-02-03 22:52:00Z
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Starmer’s momentum stalls despite Tory pandemic errors - Financial Times

Support for the Labour party jumped after Keir Starmer became leader 10 months ago but the progress in winning over British voters has stalled in recent weeks despite the error-strewn handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by Boris Johnson.

Much of the newfound support for the UK’s main opposition party has come from former supporters of the smaller Liberal Democrats and Green Party, often in Labour-held seats, according to recent internal Labour polling.

But, worryingly for Sir Keir, it showed that the party had won over just 4 per cent of people who had voted Conservative when Mr Johnson, the UK prime minister, secured a resounding election victory in 2019.

This failure explains why the Labour leader has adopted a pro-family, patriotic message to try to win back working-class voters in the so-called “Red Wall” seats, former Labour strongholds that went Tory at the election. The approach mirrors Joe Biden’s successful strategy that helped him claw back blue-collar voters from Donald Trump in the US.

Following a string of positive headlines about the Tory government’s vaccine programme in recent weeks, Labour officials are starting to fret about their prospects for May’s local elections.

A strategy document drawn up by an external consultancy and leaked to The Guardian this week, advised Sir Keir to woo former voters by brandishing the Union flag, praising military veterans and dressing smartly — all of which he has been doing for months. It also warned that voters still believe Labour is the party of “spend, spend, spend”.

UK opinion poll,Voting intention of respondents (%)

Slides at the presentation featured focus groups’ comments such as “they [Labour] have been way too quiet”. Another called Labour “two different parties under one name”. The party has long straddled two demographic groups: urban white-collar left-wingers and blue-collar workers in the northern industrial heartlands.

In 2019, Mr Johnson peeled away many pro-Brexit working-class voters from Labour who did not trust Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s “hard left” leader at the time of the election.

The leaked document angered some leftwing MPs who accused Sir Keir of trying to ape the Conservatives.

By seeking to close down criticism of Labour’s lack of patriotism, Sir Keir is partially adopting the tactics used by former prime minister Tony Blair, the party’s most successful leader. “It is excellent news that the Labour party is finally listening to the voters after 10 years of not doing so,” said Ben Bradshaw, the Blairite Labour MP for Exeter.

Helen Goodman, former MP for Bishop Auckland, which turned Tory in 2019, said she thought the strategy was working. “It’s absolutely true that people won’t vote for a party they don’t trust with the country’s defence and I am now hearing people who voted Tory last time say they do trust Keir and will vote Labour again.”

After closing a gap of about 12 percentage points since Mr Starmer replaced Mr Corbyn as leader — the FT’s poll of polls had the two main parties neck and neck at Christmas — the Tories have since pulled ahead somewhat.

The majority of voters for all major parties approve of how the government is handling the rollout of the vaccine

One member of the shadow cabinet said Sir Keir had presided over the biggest increase in support enjoyed by any new Labour leader in modern history. But that extra support was piling up in urban seats that the party already controls, rather than in the Red Wall seats it needs to regain, she warned.

“If we had an election tomorrow then David Lammy [MP for the London seat of Tottenham] would get a majority of 100,000 or whatever, but that doesn’t help us in seats like Grimsby,” she said referring to one of the former Labour strongholds in north-east England.

Some MPs fear that Sir Keir, a London-based lawyer who backed Remain in the Brexit debate, has not gained traction in the traditional former Labour heartlands.

“There is a sense that momentum has slowed. He did well initially to close the gap but Labour is finding it harder and harder to cut through,” said Deborah Mattinson, a pollster and author of Beyond The Red Wall, a book on Labour’s northern struggles.

Labour had hoped to exploit the government’s failings on the pandemic, such as the haphazard procurement of PPE last year, and the economic fallout.

Instead, many voters still believe the government is “unlucky” rather than incompetent, and have been impressed by the recent vaccine progress, according to pollsters. Mr Johnson’s attempts to paint Labour as a carping bystander have also had some traction.

Marcus Roberts, director of international politics for YouGov, said Sir Keir needed to get the party, which is polling around 39 per cent, well past the 40 per cent threshold.

Poll asking Does Keir Starmer look like a prime minister in waiting?

“Midterm poll leads for the left are always reduced by voters on the day. If you want to win an election you can’t be eking out a tiny poll lead,” he said. Ed Miliband, the former leader, was 12 points ahead of the Tories in 2013 but still lost the 2015 election.

The internal polling suggests that the party could lose seats in May’s local elections in some “Red Wall” areas such as Bolsover and West Bromwich. The crucial mayoral elections in Teesside and the West Midlands, where Labour needs to topple Tory incumbents, also appear to be finely balanced.

A debate is brewing in the shadow cabinet over whether Labour needs to roll out new policies for the first time since the last election to engage with voters. Mr Miliband, now shadow business secretary, is among those wanting to flesh out the party’s prospectus, while shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is among those who are more cautious.

Natascha Engel, former MP for North East Derbyshire, said Sir Keir’s challenge cannot be solved by policies alone. “If Labour wants to represent Red Wall voters again the Labour party has got to like them, and we’re quite a long way off that,” she said. “There are no silver bullets that will make the voters we lost suddenly vote Labour again.”

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2021-02-03 22:34:00Z
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COVID-19: The impact vaccinating everyone over 70 may have - and what happens when over 50s get the jab too - Sky News

With more than 10 million people now receiving their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, what could the impact on the NHS be?

We got an insight into this during Wednesday's Downing Street briefing - when Professor Chris Whitty shared a chart that illustrates how Britons from different age groups are affected by COVID-19.

Here's what it means - and how what the prime minister called the UK's "colossal" vaccine rollout could affect the current numbers.

Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world

What does the chart show?

The data breaks down the UK's population into five-year intervals and shows the outcome of hospital patients with COVID-19 - 28 days after they were admitted. Figures for men are on the left, and figures for women are on the right.

The dark blue bar shows the number of people who have died, while the lighter blue bar indicates how many people are still receiving treatment. Finally, the grey bar illustrates how many have been discharged.

Red lines also separate nine vaccine priority groups into two phases. Over 70s and those who care for them are first - "Captain Sir Tom's group" - as Prof Whitty put it. It is hoped everyone in this group will have been offered a jab by mid-February. Attention will then turn to over 50s and the clinically vulnerable.

What will happen when everyone over 70 is vaccinated?

According to Professor Whitty, England's chief medical officer, 83% of all people who have died of COVID are over 70.

He said that the number of coronavirus fatalities should "significantly reduce" once everyone in the first priority groups have been vaccinated.

However, he explained that this might not have a substantial impact on the number of people who end up in hospital, even though they may be people who will recover.

The aim is to complete offering vaccines to all those in the first priority groups by 15 February, after which "we would expect a situation where we can stop a very high proportion of the deaths but a rather smaller proportion of the pressure on the NHS - those very large numbers in hospital".

What will happen when everyone over 50 is vaccinated?

Professor Whitty's data suggests that just 54% of people who are going into hospital with COVID-19 are over the age of 70.

This means that the second wave of jabs, for people over 50 and the clinically vulnerable, will be crucial in order to reduce pressure on the NHS.

"We have further in-roads into reducing death and also significantly reduce the pressure on the NHS," the professor said.

He added: "If we then vaccinate all the way down to people over 50 and those who have actually got pre-existing health conditions, you then get through virtually all the people who have a high chance of dying."

Including the over-50s covers 98% of those who die from coronavirus - and about 80% of all those who go into hospital.

What about younger age groups?

As the chart shows, the number of hospitalisations is much lower among the country's young - and the number of children who go into hospital is "very small compared with adults".

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2021-02-03 22:03:47Z
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A nation honours Captain Sir Tom Moore - Sky News

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A nation honours Captain Sir Tom Moore Sky News
Covid-19: PM joins 'national clap' for Capt Sir Tom Moore BBC News
'Tomorrow Will Be a Good Day' Piers & Susanna Pay Tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore | GMB Good Morning Britain
Boris Johnson praised Captain Sir Tom Moore but he should be hanging his head in shame The Independent
Captain Tom Moore inspired millions. The NHS inspired him The Guardian
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2021-02-03 21:43:21Z
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Covid: UK 'past this peak' but infections still 'alarmingly high' - BBC News

The UK is "past the peak" of the current wave of the pandemic but infection rates are still high, England's chief medical officer says.

Prof Chris Whitty said the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths were on a "downward slope" but that did not mean there would not be another peak.

Boris Johnson praised the "colossal" effort to vaccinate 10 million people, including 90% of those aged over 75.

But the NHS was still under "huge pressure", the prime minister said.

Speaking at a Downing Street briefing, Prof Whitty said while the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 had reduced "quite noticeably", it was still above that of the first peak in April 2020.

"So this is still a very major problem, but it is one that is heading the right way," he said.

Prof Whitty said infection rates were "coming down but they are still incredibly high".

If the rate was to increase again "from the very high levels we are at the moment the NHS will get back into trouble extraordinarily fast", he added.

His comments were echoed by the prime minister, who warned the level of infection was still "forbiddingly high" and that it was too soon to relax current restrictions.

On Wednesday the UK recorded a further 1,322 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus, bringing the total number of people who have died by this measure to 109,335, while a further 19,202 new cases were recorded.

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Mr Johnson told the briefing: "Though today there are some signs of hope - the numbers of Covid patients in hospital are beginning to fall for the first time since the onset of this new wave - the level of infection is still alarmingly high."

There are also about 32,000 Covid patients in hospital, he added.

The prime minister said he hoped schools in England would be able to begin reopening from 8 March, as evidence showed the coronavirus vaccines reduced "death and serious illness" from the main strains of the disease.

But he insisted the government would not be opening schools any earlier than this date, despite First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying that schools in Scotland would begin a phased reopening from 22 February.

Elsewhere, the Welsh government is due to make a decision by the end of the week on whether to reopen its schools after the February half-term.

Prof Whitty said schools in England had been managing to "hold the line" and remain open up until the new, more transmissible variant of the virus hit.

He said it was up to ministers to decide the opening dates for schools but that he was confident the risk to children of getting Covid-19 was "incredibly low".

Meanwhile, he warned that predictions that every adult could offered a first dose of a vaccine by May and a second by August were "at the very optimistic end" due to supply constraints.

Mr Johnson said at the news conference the government would be sticking with its "cautious" approach.

He said ministers would outline a "route map" out of lockdown on 22 February and that the country would be in "a very different situation" to last summer, when disease levels had been reduced but there was no vaccine.

Vaccines are being given to the most vulnerable first. A list of nine high-priority groups which covers about 32 million people - including 90-99% of those most at risk of dying - is being followed, with an aim to vaccinate the first four by 15 February.

Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent

There is a lot to be hopeful for. The vaccine rollout is going well. Infection levels and the numbers in hospital are coming down - and there are early signs the same is happening with deaths.

Progress should continue in the coming weeks as the impact of vaccination starts to kick in - deaths could then start falling rapidly.

But the great unlocking will have to be slow.

Why? While the numbers in hospital are coming down, it's from an incredibly high base. There are still 50% more patients in hospital now than there were during the first peak.

The pressures are going to be severe for some time.

What is more, come mid-February when all the over 70s will have been offered the jab, there will still be significant numbers at risk of hospitalisation if they are infected.

Most deaths are in the over-70s, but close to half of hospital cases are in the under-70s. A delicate balance will have to be tread until the over 50s are protected.

Earlier, Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the results of a study which showed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine might reduce the spread of coronavirus as "absolutely superb".

The researchers behind the jab have also said that a vaccine to tackle variants of the virus could be ready to deploy by the autumn should they be needed.

A "small number" of cases of the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have been found in Birmingham as well as three cases without any travel history in Wales.

It comes after door-to-door testing has been launched to detect the mutation, which is thought to be more infectious but not necessarily more deadly.

The prime minister also led a clap for fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore.

The 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden, died with coronavirus in Bedford Hospital on Tuesday.

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2021-02-03 20:33:00Z
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