And over 65? That’s the key thing as AZ not licensed here for over 65’s. Entirely safe, just perhaps not as effective as the others in more mature people.
Yes, over 65 and under 70…
Ah well, maybe your GP has just decided to avert his eyes from that bit of the instructions… If you are happy to have AZ then say naught! My 67 year old sis accepted it with pleasure!
confusing though, isn’t it…
Comment in the Daily Telegraph today:
Last month, when it became clear that Covid vaccines were being rolled out in Britain much faster than across the EU, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen blamed AstraZeneca for not delivering enough shots, and threatened legal action – as well as potentially blocking all vaccine exports from the EU, thereby punishing Britain as well as AstraZeneca.
How is it going now? AstraZeneca has upped production, delivered more doses and announced that it will construct a new factory in Germany to roll out the drug faster. Yet the gap between vaccination in the EU and in Britain grows ever-wider. In Britain, 23.9 per cent of the population has now received at least one dose with the government achieving its target of offering the vaccine to all over-70s and the most-vulnerable younger groups by the middle of February. And in the EU? Just 3.2 per cent of the population has received a jab. In France and Germany it is 3.4 per cent, and in Slovakia – which is now the furthest-ahead of all EU countries – it is 4.4 per cent.
The problem now, though, is not just the much-criticised EU vaccines procurement programme – although that remains a huge issue. Vaccination-rollout has been hampered by foolish efforts by EU leaders to undermine public faith in the AstraZeneca vaccine. The German magazine Spiegel reported this week figures from Germany’s Robert Koch Institute which show that of 736,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine delivered to Germany, just 64,869 have actually been used. Why so few? People have not been turning up at their vaccination appointments. In France, too, people refusing the vaccine; a website for healthcare workers to book a vaccination this week was reported to have hundreds of slots going begging, while staff at one hospital in Perigueux had written an open letter asking to be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines rather than the AstraZeneca one.
This is hardly surprising given their leaders’ efforts to trash the AstraZeneca product. The German government’s vaccine committee pointedly declined to allow the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered to the over-65s on the grounds that there was not enough data on the efficacy of this group (although the European Medicines Agency has granted it a licence to be used in all ages). In France, President Macron, citing no evidence at all, declared the AstraZeneca vaccine to be ‘quasi ineffective’ in the over-65s.
False claims now abound in France and Germany that the AstraZeneca vaccine has awful side-effects beyond those reported in the trials – something which has been debunked by Germany’s Paul Ehrlich Institute, which has been analysing the rollout of all vaccines. It is true that trial data – as well as real-world evidence – suggests that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are more efficacious than the AstraZeneca one. But the same data show that all three vaccines are very effective, and well above the 50 per cent threshold that regulators considered would make them worthy of approval. Moreover, when you have a raging epidemic, the priority is surely to get as many people vaccinated as soon as possible, not to fuss that one might be a few per cent more efficacious than another.
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Enough said.
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Maybe so but there is a lot of truth in the article.
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absolutely true…I love France and the people who make us so welcome…but I just can’t understand their mentality over this, do they really want to live with continuing restrictions and periodic lockdowns …Covid will nor just go away as this head in sand approach seems to imply …mad!! For once the UK seems light years ahead, maybe people taking this approach will change minds when they see a greatly normalised UK compares to us here. Vaccinations are the only way out.
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Good, might bring people to their senses
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ridiculous if true by EU as the cost is insignificant compared to bailing out economies heading to a Titanic sized iceberg
The EU is made up of both rich and poor countries, the richer ones such as Germany and France can afford to pay 20 Euros+ per dose for the vaccines but the poorer ones (Greece, Bulgaria etc) cannot so the EU had to negotiate the best deal which clearly takes time, by comparison the UK was free of any constraints so was able to place orders with many vaccine developers.
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Maybe for you Mat, but I prefer to keep an open mind and take my information from a range of political perspectives. I live in a household where we read The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Economist, Private Eye, The New Scientist, The BBC and France 24 websites. No single source has exclusivity to the truth and each projects the truth through a different lens.
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If you look at the different country responses to the flu vaccine it will give you a clue. The UK tops the list of people who get the vaccine. Still never makes the target of 75% of vulnerable people, but closer than other countries. France is pretty much down the bottom of the list along with countries that basically can’t afford a free vaccination campaign.
On every subject to get balance - that is impressive, if only I had the time.
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Is France24 now scrambled or just ‘not available’? That’s what I’m seeing …
I’m seeing it just fine Roger (English version)
I skip the sport. 
And the motoring pages
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Strange … after I took this pic I unplugged the Humax, then tried again… and now:–
Really odd, 'cos now there is no programme info on the screen. I think it necessary to go to the tech dept. !
I thought their request for the other vaccine was due to the important number of hospital staff who were suffering after effects after receiving the AZ … and unable to work… thus putting even more pressure on hospitals/staff/whoever…
I’m looking at it as a web page on my computer. No problem at all. Don’t use TV for reading.