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14 nations express 'concerns' over lack of data in WHO report on Covid-19 origins after agency chief flags access issues in China
30 Mar, 2021 18:35
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
© Fabrice Coffrini / Pool via REUTERS
Fourteen countries including the US and UK have expressed "concerns" over a new report into the origins of Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) after the agency's own chief also highlighted data-access issues.
"It is equally essential that we voice our shared concerns that the international expert study on the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was significantly delayed and lacked access to complete, original data and samples," a joint statement from the nations read.
The signatories included the governments of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Slovenia, the UK and US.
The statement also called for a further analysis of the outbreak of Covid-19 that is "transparent", "free from interference" and "unimpeded."
A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China had "offered necessary facilitation for the team's work", and warned against "politicizing" efforts to identify the origins of Covid-19.
The joint statement echoes comments made by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said that the UN health agency's scientists had trouble "accessing raw data" while in China.
"I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing," he said during a news briefing on Tuesday, adding he did not believe the report was "extensive enough."
Two months earlier, the WHO chief praised China's response to the pandemic, adding that President Xi Jinping had "encouraged and impressed" him with his knowledge of the coronavirus.
The 120-page WHO report was published on Tuesday after a team of international scientists visited the Chinese city of Wuhan between January 14 and February 10, 2021.
The scientists visited the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the virus is believed to have spread from.
The team did not find the source of Covid-19, but their report effectively ruled out its origin from a laboratory accident, saying it was "extremely unlikely," while the virus's introduction through frozen food chains was considered "possible."
The report did say that the introduction of the virus through an intermediate host followed by zoonotic transmission – from animals to humans – was considered "likely to very likely."
Pretty definitive terms, 'extremely unlikely', 'likely to very likely', considering the lack of raw data they had access to. I suspect they would have arrived at those same conclusions if they had not received any data whatsoever.
Germany says AstraZeneca Covid shot should only be given to people over 60 as country tallies 9 deaths from blood clots
30 Mar, 2021 13:58
A vial with AstraZeneca's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is pictured in Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2021. © REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
Germany has restricted the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precautionary measure amid reports the jab is being linked to more cases of suspected adverse effects, some resulting in death.
The country’s Standing Vaccination Commission recommended on Tuesday that AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria only be given to men and women over the age of 60, or in exceptional cases. The decision was made due to “available, albeit limited, evidence” concerning the drug’s safety.
The commission announced its recommendation hours after the city of Berlin introduced an identical policy. Earlier, two state-owned clinics in the city halted AstraZeneca shots for women under 55 years of age. Munich followed suit with its own rule banning the shot for people under 60.
Health Minister Jens Spahn was scheduled to speak with regional counterparts about the AstraZeneca drug later on Tuesday, a ministry spokesperson announced. Germany had suspended emergency use of the AstraZeneca shot earlier this month, but then lifted the temporary ban after EU regulators deemed it to be safe.
The latest restrictions placed on the drug come after Germany's vaccine regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, disclosed that as of March 29, the country has recorded 31 cases of cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT), nine of which resulted in death, after people were given the Vaxzevria injection. CSVT is a rare form of blood clot that forms in the brain.
31 Cases, 9 deaths - these numbers are being reported as global numbers when they are all from within Germany. Many media outlets have no real affinity for the truth.
Of the 31 cases of CSVT, all except two involved women between the ages of 20 and 63. Before the new guidelines were issued in Berlin, a district in North Rhine-Westphalia state suspended shots for women under 55 after two women suffered from blood clots.
Nearly 2.7 million first doses of Vaxzevria have been administered in Germany. According to official figures, women under the age of 70 make up two-thirds of those vaccinated with the AstraZeneca drug. It’s believed that more women than men have received the shot because nurses were among the first group in Germany to take the jab.
AstraZeneca has been scrambling to reassure governments that its product is safe after more than a dozen countries temporarily halted their rollout of the vaccine following similar reports of blood clots. Canada is the latest country to issue an advisory about the drug, instructing that the vaccine should not be administered to people younger than 55.
EU health authorities have insisted that the vaccine is safe and that the medical episodes cannot be linked to the jab.
EU seems to always come out on the side of Big Pharma rather than the people of Europe! Last year, Astra Zeneca was restricted to those under 65 because they used an inappropriately small number of elderly people in the testing. This is how you inflate your efficacy numbers. Now they have reversed and use for people over 55 or 60. Astra Zeneca has zero credibility in my view.
Sicily’s Covid chief quits amid investigation into claims he rigged coronavirus data to avoid tougher lockdown
30 Mar, 2021 14:26
A police officer stands at the University Plaza during what would usually be the annual Feast of
Sant'Agata procession but this year was cancelled due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19),
in Catania, Sicily, February 2, 2021. © REUTERS / Antonio Parrinello
The councilor for health of the Sicilian region, Ruggero Razza, resigned on Tuesday amid an investigation into allegations that data presented to national officials was rigged to avoid tougher lockdown restrictions in the area.
The investigation centers around allegations that the Sicilian regional government rigged figures provided to Italy’s National Health Institute (ISS), with police claiming they have evidence of around 40 incidents of forged data since November 2020.
A wiretap revealed by Italian media outlets reportedly caught Razza asking an official to “spread out a little” data on deaths from coronavirus, affecting the information the national government used to determine whether to increase or ease Covid restrictions in the regions. Police have seized communication devices owned by Razza.
The councilor for health’s departure comes after three employees of the regional government were placed under house arrest by local police over the allegations. Although police believe that Razza was “partially involved in the criminal activities,” they have said that they currently don’t have any serious evidence against him.
Razza has denied any wrongdoing and, in a statement, claimed that “to save the administration from unavoidable controversy, I have asked the regional governor to accept my resignation.”
Italy currently has a four-tiered system in place – white, yellow, orange, and red – with each zone requiring different Covid restrictions to help prevent the nation’s healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
Sicily is currently ranked as an orange zone, where you can only travel within your town and are prohibited from visiting other municipalities unless for an essential reason.
Since the start of the pandemic, Italy has recorded the sixth highest number of coronavirus cases – more than 3.5 million – and seventh highest fatality rate, with nearly 108,000 deaths.
French-based international pharmaceutical company Servier convicted over deadly weight loss drug deaths
29 Mar, 2021 11:09
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the pharmaceutical giant Servier Laboratoires in Suresnes, outside Paris.
© AP Photo / Michel Euler
International pharma giant Servier has been convicted in France of aggravated fraud and involuntary manslaughter after thousands took the company to court over the effects of a drug that was sold as weight loss medication.
One of the biggest health scandals in French history
The court case was held from September 2019 to July 2020, taking up five courtrooms, with 12 people and 11 entities, Servier, nine of its subsidiaries, as well as France’s medicines agency (ANSM), put on trial. The inquiry required around 400 lawyers and featured 6,500 plaintiffs, in what was described as one of the biggest health scandals in French history.
The trial focused on a drug called Mediator, which allegedly is behind hundreds of deaths, with individuals accusing the company of ignoring the risks of the medicine and allowing it to be used for weight loss.
Sylvie Daunis, one of the magistrates presiding over the case, accused the company of having “undermined confidence in the health system,” finding the company guilty of aggravated fraud and involuntary manslaughter.
Servier has repeatedly denied that it knew about the risks posed by the use of Mediator and claims it didn’t sign off on its use as a weight loss drug, citing how it was designed to be diabetes medicine.
ANSM was accused of colluding in attempts to cover up the effects that the drug had on individuals who took it, allowing it to remain on sale.
Handing down the verdict, the judges fined the company €2.7 million ($3.2 million) and issued a fine of €303,000 to ANSM. Servier’s former deputy boss, Jean Philippe Seta, was given a four-year suspended sentence.
So, no-one goes to jail regardless of how many deaths occurred! Justice for the rich doesn't look anything like justice for the poor.
The drug was removed from circulation in 2009, a decade after it was first linked to reports of fatalities, with the French health minister stating that at least 500 people died from heart problems due to a key ingredient in Mediator, suggesting the total number could be as many as 2,000.
It could have been 10,000 and still, no-one would have gone to jail. Big pharma has no concern for the welfare of its customers, only for their money. And they have no reason to fear justice, at least, not in this lifetime.
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